Commanders beat Bears on Jayden Daniels’ last-second Hail Mary

LANDOVER, Md. — Jayden Daniels connected with Noah Brown on a 52-yard Hail Mary as time expired to give the Washington Commanders an 18-15 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

Daniels scrambled for several seconds before heaving the ball from the Commanders’ 35-yard line. It was deflected about 3 yards short of the goal line and fell into the arms of Brown, who was standing alone in the end zone.

It was the fifth go-ahead Hail Mary TD in the final 10 seconds since ESPN began tracking them in 2006. At 52 yards, it was the second longest of the bunch, behind the  Rodgers-to- Rodgers Miracle in Motown play against the Detroit Lions in 2015.

“That was wild. That was so much fun, and what I love about the team is that we’re never out of the fight,” Commanders coach Dan Quinn said as part of his opening statement to reporters. 

Chicago had taken its first lead with 23 seconds left in the game, going ahead 15-12 on a 1-yard TD run by Roschon Johnson after a pass-interference penalty on the Commanders (6-2). The Bears (4-3) had their winning streak snapped at three after falling behind 12-0 and giving up the Daniels-to-Brown play that sent players and fans in the stands into a frenzy.

“Just throw the ball up, give my guys a shot,” said Daniels, who noted he didn’t see the result of the play but “just heard people screaming and our sideline rushing the field — so, that’s how I knew.”

It was the first game since Nov. 13, 1977, where each team scored a go-ahead touchdown in the final 30 seconds.

The unlikely TD was Daniels’ 21st completion on 38 attempts while playing through a rib injury that left his status uncertain until hours before kickoff. In the NFL’s sixth matchup of rookie quarterbacks taken with the top two picks in the draft, Daniels threw for 326 yards and ran for 52.

The unexpected ending ruined a turnaround for No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams, the Washington-area native who engineered a late 62-yard scoring drive after starting the game completing just four of his first 16 passes. Williams finished 10-of-24 for 131 yards, and  D’Andre Swift ran for a TD as part of his 129-yard performance.

In this often ragged matchup of dynamic rookies, it was Daniels, taken one spot after Williams in the NFL draft, who came out on top.

Austin Seibert kicked four field goals for the Commanders for their only points until the Hail Mary.

Signing Seibert after a kicking debacle in the season opener has turned out to be huge for Washington. Even with one fewer game, he passed Mark Moseley during his All-Pro season in 1982 for the most field goals made and most points scored through Week 8 in franchise history.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.