Heartbreak in the Final Seconds: Commanders Stun Bears with Hail Mary Victory

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (Photo Credit: CBS Sports/YouTube screenshot). 

With just 25 seconds left in the game, the stories were written and the curl of joyous cheers stumbled out our throats. It looked like the Chicago Bears pulled out a last-second victory on the road against the Washington Commanders. 

But that other 25 seconds, marked by perhaps the most incredible play of the young NFL season, dashed Chicago’s hopes and vaulted Washington to victory. 

And, in case you haven’t been paying attention, it was on the Hail Mary, an ancient-as-time football play with the highest degrees of difficulty to pull off. Hitting on one of these is like finding a folded-up $100 bill in your pocket. It simply doesn’t happen. 

Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels scrambled for nearly 13 seconds and heaved the ball from his team’s 35-yard line as the clock struck zero. The pass deflected off a player’s hands near the goal line and landed in receiver Noah Brown’s grasp in the end zone, completing a 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown. That play led to a Commanders’ 18-15 win over the Bears. 

But for a brief and tangible period, lasting just seconds, Chicago could taste victory. The Bears held and seemingly seized it when quarterback Caleb Williams led a drive to put his team ahead 15-12 with 25 seconds left. The drive was an outlier for the Bears, whose offense was mostly pedestrian throughout the game, mustering just 111 yards passing.  

The Bears offense didn’t get going until the end of the third quarter when running back D’Andre Swift ripped off a 56-yard run. 

“That’s just us shooting ourselves in the foot, and that comes from details and focus in the game throughout the week,” said Williams, who returned to play in the DMV area, where he was born, for the first time as a pro. “That comes from myself. I’m included in that for sure. Definitely missed a few passes that I don’t miss typically so, tough, but very encouraging because we stayed in it.”

The loss snapped the Bears’ three-game streak, but the Hail Mary itself drew reaction from throughout the sports world and beyond, especially among aggrieved Bears fans who thought they had this game in hand. 

Chicago surrendered this high degree of difficulty play to the Commanders, and the defense is to blame.

The Bears secondary allowed Daniels to complete an easy 13-yard pass, which set up the Hail Mary play. Moreover, when the ball was tipped on that final play, no Bears defender was behind the scrum to play the tipped pass. It was Brown all alone by himself to haul in the game-winning touchdown. 

Another subplot to that play was video capturing Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson taunting Commanders fans thinking that his team had the game won, even as the Hail Mary play started. 

National sports media roundly criticized Stevenson for his actions. However, he did apologize to his teammates and Bears fans via a post on X.

The loss snapped Chicago’s three-game winning streak, and the team now sits in last place in the NFL’s most competitive division.  For context, the Bears’ 4-3 record would put them in first or second place in four of the eight NFL divisions.

Chicago goes out West next Sunday (Nov. 3) to face the Arizona Cardinals.  

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