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The Commanders defeated the Bears on Jayden Daniels' last-second Hail Mary

The Commanders defeated the 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 struggled for several seconds before throwing the ball from the Commander's 35-yard line. The ball deflected about three yards from the goal line and fell into the arms of Brown, who was standing alone in the end zone.

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

Chicago took its first lead with 23 seconds left in the game, taking a 15-12 lead on a 1-yard TD run by Roschon Johnson following a pass interference penalty against the Commanders (6-2). The Bears' (4-3) winning streak ended at three after they fell behind 12-0 and forfeited the Daniels-to-Brown play that sent players and fans into a frenzy in the stands.

It was the first game this century in which every team scored a touchdown in the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter.

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

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

In this often heated duel of dynamic rookies, it was Daniels, who took one spot behind Williams in the NFL Draft, who emerged victorious.

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

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

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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