LANDOVER, Md. — Jayden Daniels had some very simple thoughts in his head with the Washington Commanders needing to make long throws to beat the Chicago Bears.
“Buy some time, don’t throw the ball out of bounds,” Daniels said.
Daniels drove around with almost 13 seconds left and threw the ball from the Washington 35-yard line with no time on the clock. The pass that gave the Commanders an improbable 18-15 victory for a 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown went from the hands of Zach Ertz to the goal line and into the waiting arms of Noah Brown, who was standing alone in the end zone. Sunday and sent players, coaches and fans into a frenzy.
The Hail Mary TD in the final 10 seconds is the fifth since ESPN began tracking them in 2006. At 52 yards, it was the second-longest behind the Rodgers-to-Rodgers miracle game at Motown against Detroit. Lions in 2015.
“It was wild. It was a lot of fun, and what I love about the team is that we never quit,” Commanders coach Dan Quinn told reporters as part of his opening statement.
The rookie quarterback never even saw Brown make a catch.
“I heard guys screaming and our teammates rushing down the field, and that’s how I knew,” said Daniels, who was in limbo until hours before kickoff with a rib injury. “It’s like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not many people get to experience things like this.”
Daniels’ heroics came after the Commanders (6-2) trailed after a pass-interference penalty put the ball at the 1-yard line with 25 seconds left on a Rossen Johnson TD. There were only 19 seconds left after the kickoff was returned to the 24.
Three completions later, Daniels added another highlight reel of his season that made him the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year and one of the NFL’s most electric players.
“We are blessed to have ‘5’ leading this team: the things he can do are special,” Brown said. “I don’t want to play with any other quarterback.”
It was “like a movie,” offensive lineman Sam Cosmi said.
“Front row seats are amazing,” Cosmi said. “That’s just crazy. It’s always stuck in my head forever. What a moment.”
It was the first game since November 13, 1977, in which each team scored a go-ahead touchdown in the final 30 seconds.
In the NFL’s sixth game with the top two rookies, Daniels threw for 326 yards and ran for 52 runs. Caleb Williams, the first pick for the Bears (4-3), completed four of his first 16 passes. He completed 10 of 24 for 131 yards.
Chicago, which snapped its winning streak at three, had just 172 yards of offense before the start of the fourth quarter and didn’t get on the board until De’Andre Swift’s 56-yard TD run late in the third.
“It’s shooting ourselves in the foot and that comes all week with the details and focus on the game,” said Williams, a Washington-area native who is playing back home for the first time. “That comes from me. I’m definitely included in that. I definitely missed some passes that I shouldn’t have missed, tough, but really encouraging because we stayed in it.”
Daniels hasn’t been himself at times and has looked a little out of sorts with a rib injury that kept him out of last week’s win over Carolina and kept him out of practice Wednesday and Thursday. He took too many hits after releasing the ball, but was at his best when it mattered.
“We knew he had it,” running back Brian Robinson Jr. said. “He showed us today what he’s capable of and how tough he is.”
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
