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The Athletic (paywall)
Oral history of Jayden Daniels’ Hail Mary TD to help Commanders shock Bears in 2024
“Never been on a team that did one before,” Commanders defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw said last Wednesday.
“I am now.”
Kinlaw wasn’t in Washington last season, but he, like 24,890,000 other people, watched the final seconds of the Commanders’ game last October against the Chicago Bears. For 59 minutes and 58 seconds, the afternoon was one of the most frustrating for the home team all season. Despite outpacing Chicago in total yards (481-307) and first downs (23-15), and despite
committing fewer penalties, Washington didn’t put Chicago away. And after leading all game, the Commanders couldn’t hold onto the lead, with the Bears going ahead, 15-12, with 25 seconds left. Chicago still led with two seconds left, with Washington 52 yards away from the end zone.
And then …
In an instant, Washington pulled off the unthinkable, with Noah Brown catching Jayden Daniels’ tipped pass in the end zone for the game-winning score — and an 18-15 Commanders victory. It was the most improbable of Washington’s multiple last-second wins in a magical 2024 season that went all the way to the NFC Championship Game. On the other sideline, the Bears imploded after the loss, dropping their next nine games, some in equally excruciating fashion. Coach Matt Eberflus lost his job after the sixth straight loss, in late November, having gone an almost inconceivable 5-19 in one-score games during his tenure as Chicago’s head coach.
Almost a year later, the Bears will return to Northwest Stadium Monday night. Things are different, of course: Chicago has a new coach in Ben Johnson, the wunderkind behind the Lions’ explosive and creative offense the last few seasons. Quarterback Caleb Williams, the first pick in the 2024 draft, is showing signs of growth under Johnson’s tutelage. And the man at the center of the loss last year, Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, has bounced back and is having a solid start to his season.
In sports, it’s often considered anathema to look back. But The Athletic spoke with many of the people who were involved in the Hail Mary last season, some who watched in disbelief on the sideline and the legendary play-by-play man who called it for CBS.
Washington Post (paywall)
A Hail Mary set up the Commanders for magic — and the Bears for misery
Do you believe in momentum? What happened after last October’s meeting between Washington and Chicago suggests it’s real. Just ask a psychology researcher.
[A]s the Commanders and Bearsmeet again at Northwest Stadium on Monday night, players and coaches on both teams have been reticent to revisit the play that capped an improbable 18-15 victory for the Commanders last October.
“That’s last year’s story,” Washington Coach Dan Quinn said. “It was awesome, we loved it, but it doesn’t apply to this week’s game at all.”
“We’re a new team,” Bears Coach Ben Johnson, who was with the Detroit Lions last year, told reporters in Chicago.
“That Hail Mary isn’t going to help us win a game on Monday, so what’s the point?” Daniels asked.
After the Hail Mary, their paths split. The Commanders weathered a brief losing streak, then won seven consecutive games — including five by one score or less — en route to the NFC championship game. The Bears lost their next nine games after the Hail Mary. They fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron two weeks afterward, and coach Matt Eberflus followed him out the door three weeks later after mismanaging the clock during a loss on Thanksgiving.
Commanders defensive end Jacob Martin, who spent last season with the Bears, recalled a shift in the vibe around his former team in the weeks and months after the Hail Mary, particularly as the coaching staff’s jobs became endangered.
“You’re straining. Everything is all magnified now,” he recalled. “You’re trying to find: ‘Why aren’t we winning? Why aren’t we winning?’ … It makes it extremely hard to just play ball.”
Beitman, who wrote the 2022 book “Meaningful Coincidences: How and Why Synchronicity and Serendipity Happen,” said we tend to view coincidences not as random acts but rather as part of a narrative. When something wonderful happens, it can lead to a feeling that you’re on the right path and everything is working out.
That self-belief can be a powerful feeling, said Eric Zillmer, a professor of neuropsychology at Drexel University.
“Athletes who win at a high level often embrace luck and they embrace rituals. And the idea that you have to be lucky to win is okay,” said Zillmer, who spent 23 years as Drexel’s athletic director.
Asked about the psychological impact of the Commanders’ Hail Mary, Zillmer first brought up the impact on fans and a different realm of study — research into the transformative power of awe. He suggested the collective feeling of awe among a fan base could have a long-term impact, going so far as to describe the play as giving fans “a shortcut to happiness.”
ESPN
Jayden Daniels vs. Caleb Williams 2.0: a year after the Hail Mary
this wasn’t about stats. It was about belief. The impact was less on Daniels and much more on those around him.
“Whenever you do something like that,” said punter Tress Way, the franchise’s longest-tenured player, “coming off some of these incredible performances … there’s just this sense of we always have a shot. We’ve got him. You never know what he’s going to do, and he’s in our uniform.”
Cronin: Lost in the chaos was what Williams did on the possession before the Commanders’ game-winning drive. Chicago took the lead for the first time when Williams led a 10-play, 62-yard touchdown drive capped off by a successful 2-point conversion. It would have gone down as the first fourth-quarter comeback of his NFL career.
Instead, the result started a spiral.
Four days after the Washington game, Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. blamed himself for putting the team in position to have to win on a Hail Mary. Williams’ father, Carl, quote-tweeted a video clip from Whitt’s news conference with the hashtags: #accountability and #realcoach. He quickly deleted the post.
Closing out games was a struggle for the Bears throughout Williams’ rookie season. Weeks after the Washington loss, Chicago had chances to win in the fourth quarter and overtime in consecutive games against the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, and lost them all.
A to Z Sports
Jeremy McNichols was fined for using his helmet
The league is paying close attention to every single play well after the game ends, and the fines are coming in hot on Saturdays. Last Sunday, McNichols had a big third-down conversion in the third quarter that helped the team, but cost him money this week. McNichols was fined $7,292 for lowering his helmet as he picked up the first down on a crucial drive.
It wasn’t a dirty play by any means, and it’s very questionable to be fined for preparing your body for contact. The Commanders were up 17-10 and needed to add to the lead. It was third and 10 at the Chargers’ 30, and McNichols made a big play on a swing pass to pick up a first down. He made one defender miss before going upfield along the sideline, where he was met by another defender coming in to lay a hit.
This is only the second time McNichols has been fined in his career, and he joins linebackers Frankie Luvu and Ale Kaho as the only players to be fined so far this season.
Heavy.com
Eddie Goldman : Under the weather
Goldman is listed as questionable for Monday’s game against the Bears due to an illness. Goldman is in jeopardy of missing his first game of the 2025 season due to an illness, and his official status for Monday’s contest may not be known until the Commanders announce their list of inactive players approximately 90 minutes before the 8:15 p.m. ET kickoff. Jer’Zhan Newton would be in line for more rotational snaps at defensive tackle behind Daron Payne and Javon Kinlaw if Goldman is unable to play.
ESPN
Jayden Daniels and the QB battle that unlocked his greatness
The Arizona State transfer has just walked into the indoor practice facility for the first time on a March afternoon in 2022. Chatter had spread that the coaches thought Daniels, a fourth-year junior, could be special. But when he shows up, several LSU players and staff members give each other side-eyes.
“No swag whatsoever,” receiver Malik Nabers says now. “He looked like a kid on his first day of high school.”
At the time, Daniels’ official bio lists him at 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, but he is probably an inch shorter and 25 pounds less than that. He has a backpack that hangs lower than cool kids would ever wear it. His hair is a mess. He’s wearing glasses as he cross-references his printed class schedule against his phone’s calendar. He doesn’t say much. He looks so out of place that one of the LSU assistant coaches sneaks a picture when Daniels isn’t paying attention.
Nabers goes so far as to call Daniels a “weird nerd” to his face, after knowing him for all of two minutes. Some teammates pile on, too, laughing and ribbing Daniels. Assistant coach Sherman Wilson, the guy who takes the picture, tells Daniels he looks like a “bum.”
Most of the banter is good-natured ribbing of the rookie. But some of it is a test. LSU has a culture that has long encouraged players put newcomers through the wringer before an SEC season begins, so they know what level of toughness is needed to succeed. His new teammates keep telling Daniels that life and football are different in the SEC, that his California cool better be ready to grind. He is third on the LSU depth chart, and they let him know he’s entering into the QB battle of his life.
Daniels handles the digs well on the surface, but underneath, he’s hurting. Daniels has always had a warm, calm exterior, and he’s a better listener than any star quarterback needs to be. But he’s at a wobbly point in his life, both as a football player and as a person. His mechanics are a mess — LSU coaches think his feet and his eyes are doing two different things on most plays, leading him to run when he should throw and throw when he should run.
His mindset isn’t much better following an ugly public end to his Arizona State career. When he entered the transfer portal in February 2022, a viral video surfaced of his ex-teammates clearing out his locker and dumping on him. Daniels took the high road and responded to the video with kind words of appreciation. But deep down, he lands in Baton Rouge with a wounded soul and time running out on his college career.
In his early days at LSU, he makes the conscious decision to kill his new teammates with kindness, absorbing the barbs with a big smile on his face. From the outside, he looks as if he has the perfect amount of thick skin and humility to battle for the starting job. On the inside, he admits later, he feels the sting of being the new kid getting picked on.
Players leave the facility that day liking Jayden Daniels, the person. But Nabers and other players wonder, how will this nerd hold up under pressure?
The Athletic (paywall)
Why there’s another ‘Monday Night Football’ doubleheader in Week 6 and how to watch
Why MNF doubleheaders (sometimes) overlap
The NFL’s 2021 television rights deal increased the number of games on ABC/ESPN (both part of The Walt Disney Company). This year, that includes 23 regular-season matchups and two more in the postseason. There are only 18 weeks in a season, and ABC/ESPN only does Monday nights (until Saturday in Week 18), so there wasn’t much else to do for resolution here.
Some MNF doubleheaders run one after another, like Bucs vs. Texans followed by Chargers vs. Raiders in Week 2. Others, like Week 6, run concurrently, with one game exclusively on ABC and the other on ESPN. It’s still new, as the stacked broadcast format began late in the 2023 season.
There are perceived benefits and problems with each format. The back-to-back setup allows fans to focus on one game at a time and avoid split-screen overstimulation. It does mean that the second game starts late, around 10 p.m. for viewers on the East Coast.
The overlapping setup avoids the after-midnight finish for those fans, and it gives the main MNF window two chances at landing a hit. It also requires a more attentive viewer, and it potentially bifurcates the audience if both games are good. Apparently, that A/B testing is part of the plan.
Bears-Commanders is on ABC, so it is free over the air and gets the lead booth duo of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.
Entering Week 6, Washington ranks in the top 10 in scoring offense (eighth) and defense (ninth). Dan Quinn’s crew is rushing with ease, averaging a wild 5.9 yards per carry and boasting a league-best rushing success rate (50.4 percent, per TruMedia, excluding scrambles). Seventh-round rookie Jacory “Bill” Croskey-Merritt has a 72 percent success rate. For comparison, Saquon Barkley was at 52.5 percent as 2024’s Offensive Player of the Year, and Derrick Henry’s career-best mark is a tick under 59 percent. It’s early, but Croskey-Merritt looks sublime.
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Blogging the Boys
Cowboys at Panthers recap: Dallas defense fails again as team loses 30-27
The Dallas Cowboys lost to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. It was very unfortunate.
It was a game very similar to what we have seen all season from Dallas. The offense contended over and over, almost on every possession, but the defense got worked in just about every single way.
This type of football (obviously) isn’t sustainable for the Cowboys and their 2-3-1 (gross) record is pretty representative of that.
Up next for this team is a home date against a Washington Commanders group that will be anxious to put Dallas in a serious hole in the first half of the season. It is hard to wonder how that will not wind up happening.
The Cowboys were favorites in this game, the second time this season that they were favored on the road.
While the Carolina loss was not embarrassing as the other (the Bears one), that we are even having to compare the two is frustrating.
Unbelievable.
ESPN
Rico Dowdle backs up talk, steamrolls Cowboys for 239 yards
Dowdle had a team-record 239 scrimmage yards against the team that chose not to re-sign him after the 2024 season, making him the seventh player in NFL history to have at least 230 scrimmage yards in consecutive games.
His 473 scrimmage yards the past two games smashed the team two-game record of 416 held by Christian McCaffrey and helped Carolina (3-3) reach the .500 mark for the first time since it was 5-5 in Week 10 of 2021.
Dowdle’s effort also opened up a conversation about who will start once Chuba Hubbard returns from a calf injury that has sidelined him the past two weeks.
Per NFL.com: Rico Dowdle’s 239 scrimmage yards are the most by a player in a game versus a former team in NFL history.
ESPN
NFL Week 6: Biggest questions, takeaways for every game
Carolina 30 – Dallas 27
Is it time to make drastic changes on defense? Is it time to make a trade for a legit pass rusher? A linebacker? Is it out of the realm of possibility they do something the Cowboys have not done before: make an in-season coordinator change? The Cowboys had no answers for Dowdle, the ex-Cowboy. They did not put any sustained pressure on Young. They gave up too many big plays again. And with 6:07 to play, the Panthers ran down the clock for the game-winning field goal. These problems have been consistent from the opening week of the season. When it goes poorly, the Cowboys don’t have a playmaker, like edge rusher Micah Parsons, to get them out of a funk. The trade deadline is in less than a month.
Trend to watch: The Cowboys were not pleased with their running game last week against the Jets, despite 180 yards on 29 carries. They are certainly less pleased after Sunday. The Cowboys finished with 31 yards on 19 carries and did not have a run longer than six yards. Take away the 66-yard run by running back Javonte Williams in the second quarter against the Jets, and the run game has not had the consistency the Cowboys need. With a defense that is scuffling (to be kind), that’s even more pressure on quarterback Dak Prescott to deliver every time. — Todd Archer
Next game: vs Commanders (Sunday, 3:25 p.m. EDT)
Upcoming opponent
Windy City Gridiron
Windy City Honors: Chicago Bears Week 6 Pregame Superlatives
Biggest Question: How will the Bears perform after a bye week?
In theory, a team should come off of a bye week rested, refreshed, and prepared for their next game. And yet, the Bears are 2-10 after a bye week since 2013.
Player to Watch
On Saturday, Johnson announced that Canadian undrafted free agent Theo Benedet will replace Braxton Jones at left tackle on Monday night. Benedet started at right tackle in place of an injured Darnell Wright during the Las Vegas Raiders game but was moved to left tackle before the end of the first half.
The personnel change does not come as a surprise as Johnson has been clear since training camp that he was not opposed to making changes as the season went on.
All eyes will be on Benedet in hopes that the Bears have come to a resolution at the left tackle position and can continue to build stability on the offensive line as the season progresses.
This matchup will answer some of the looming questions around this team. Can the Bears extend their winning streak to three games and continue to stack wins? Can they show that they’re changing the existing narrative? Can they prove they can beat a competitive team?
Hogs Haven
Washington Commanders vs Chicago Bears Week 6: Five Questions with Windy City Gridiron
4) Who is one Bears player on offense and one player on defense that Washington fans probably don’t know much about, but should?
On defense, the guy is DT Gervon Dexter. He was a second-round pick a couple of years ago and has steadily improved since his rookie season. He still is inconsistent in stopping the run, but he has had a lot of success this year rushing the passer. He’s arguably been their best pass rusher, including Montez Sweat, and Dexter does it from the inside. He might make things uncomfortable for Jayden Daniels a couple of times on Monday.
On offense, most of the Bears’ players are pretty well known. The most under-the-radar guy that is involved in the offense is former Commander Olamide Zaccheaus. He’s been getting a pretty big chunk of the offensive snaps, and Williams is comfortable looking for him under the defense. Also, something to look for, Zaccheaus took some snaps at running back during Wednesday’s Bears’ practice.
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ESPN
49ers lose top LB Fred Warner to season-ending ankle injury
Warner’s injury will require season-ending surgery, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game.
Warner suffered the devastating injury with just under eight minutes left in the opening quarter. On first-and-10 at Tampa Bay’s 36, running back Rachaad White ran off left tackle for a gain of 10 yards. As Warner attempted to corral White, who cut inside him, Niners safety Ji’Ayir Brown brought White down and Brown’s legs rolled into the back of Warner’s ankle.
Brown reacted quickly, knowing that Warner might be seriously hurt, and teammates quickly put their hands on their heads and dropped to a knee as they watched San Francisco’s medical staff surround Warner.
A couple of minutes after Warner’s injury, Niners medical and training staff placed his right foot and ankle in an air cast, and he was taken to the locker room on a cart.
For the Niners, picking up the pieces after Warner’s injury will be more difficult because the defense is dealing with other significant injuries. The 49ers lost star defensive end Nick Bosa to a torn ACL in his right knee in Week 3, and he, too, is out for the season.
Pro Football Talk
Brian Branch: I did a childish thing, mad that JuJu Smith-Schuster blocked me in the back
Lions defensive back Brian Branch said he started a post-game fight because he was frustrated that Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster had blocked him in the back during the game.
“I did a little childish thing, but I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the play and the refs don’t catch it. They be trying to bully me out there and I don’t – I shouldn’t have did it. It was childish,” Branch said.
Branch says Smith-Schuster illegally hit him in the back and he was upset that the officials didn’t throw a flag.
“I got blocked in the back illegally,” Branch said. “It was in front of the ref, the ref didn’t do anything. Stuff like that. I could’ve gotten hurt off that. But I still shouldn’t have done that.”
Discussion topics
NFL.com
12 early NFL winners and losers: Who’s soaring, who’s sinking after six weeks?
4) Kevin Patullo: The Eagles offensive coordinator will be under heavy scrutiny until this team finds a way to resolve the issues that have been building around this team. It wasn’t a huge deal when the Philadelphia offense was underwhelming as the Eagles won their first four games of the season. It’s a major problem now that the team isn’t benefitting from fortuitous bounces on defense and blocked kicks.
Patullo certainly knew what he was getting into with this job. The Eagles won a Super Bowl with current Saints head coach Kellen Moore running the offense last season. They disappointed a year earlier when Brian Johnson – who was promoted from within the staff like Patullo — replaced Shane Steichen in the same role.
Moore had enough clout and experience to lead the Eagles out of some offensive doldrums early last year because he’d been a coordinator before. This is Patullo’s first shot at that job. He’s received criticism because of how lame the team’s passing attack was in the first few weeks (Philadelphia averaged 138 passing yards in its four games) and now he’s catching heat because of how sparingly he’s run the football of late (Saquon Barkley has 18 carries in the last two games).
The most obvious issue here is that Philadelphia has too much talent to be this lame every week. Moore was able to ignite the offense last year by leaning heavily on Barkley. Patullo might have to do the same and then some. The Eagles were a team that simply knew how to win when they were thriving in the first month of this season. They needs to get back to remembering what it takes to move the football and score points.
5) Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins: It’s been a long month for the Cincinnati star wide receivers. Ever since quarterback Joe Burrow sustained that turf toe injury in Week 2 — one that required surgery that will keep him out until mid-December — the Bengals have been brutal on offense. Chase and Higgins signed huge contract extensions this offseason with the idea that they would continue being the foundational pieces of a team trying to reclaim its spot among the league’s championship contenders. Instead, they’ve suffered through four straight losses with their teammates while enduring constant frustration.
Higgins has 18 receptions for 220 yards on the season. Chase has seen the ball more often (with 42 receptions for 468 yards) but he also had 73 combined receiving yards in his first two games without Burrow. The hope in Cincinnati is that new quarterback Joe Flacco can hold things down until Burrow returns. He replaced the floundering Jake Browning, and let’s not forget Flacco came off the couch in 2023 to lead the Browns to a playoff appearance. There’s a chance he can help Chase and Higgins be more productive. There’s also a real possibility that more frustration lies around the corner for this dynamic duo.
From the Athletic:
Quarterback Jalen Hurts hinted at Patullo’s lack of play-calling experience when the coach, on staff since 2021, was a candidate for the OC job.
It wasn’t much of an endorsement. Recent history suggests the Eagles either have an established offensive coordinator they like (Steichen, Moore) or they go look for one. Having the patience to develop one over the course of a season or two might be easier if Philly were not such a highly leveraged contender.
