This matchup had been anticipated since (at least) the day that Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels were selected #1 and #2 overall in the 2024 draft. With both teams playing well and both rookie quarterbacks developing rapidly into polished professionals, the game was flexed into the late-afternoon window to broadcast it to a wider audience.
All of that drama had been put into doubt when Daniels was injured on the first offensive play of the game against the Panthers the previous Sunday. With the injury, Washington went from being a home favorite to a home underdog in one fell swoop. when Sunday afternoon arrived, reports began to surface that Jayden Daniels would, indeed, play, setting up the QB matchup everyone wanted to see.
The game was important to both teams.
Coming into the week, Washington, with a 5-2 record, sat atop the NFC East, but just a half-game ahead of the 4-2 Eagles, whose game against the struggling Bengals was moved to a 1:00 start time to make way for this Bears-Commanders flex. The Eagles beat the Bengals on the road, allowing them to match Washington’s 5-2 record, creating, at least for a few hours, a tie at the top of the division.
Chicago, despite its 4-2 record, came into the week in last place in the ‘black & blue’ NFC North division, in which every other team had 5 wins. With the Lions winning in the early window, the Bears needed a win to prevent them from falling further back in the standings.
Neither the Bears nor the Commanders have yet beaten a team with a winning record, so this game offered added significance since the winner would gain legitimacy while the loser risks being seen as a paper tiger.
The stakes couldn’t be much higher for two teams playing a mid-season, non-divisional matchup.
Of course, this victory and its dramatic ending gave a huge boost to the Commanders national profile, which had established a strong beachhead in Week 3 when Washington had beaten the Bengals in a shootout on Monday Night Football.
In contrast, the Bears season fell apart. The loss to Washington was the first of ten straight defeats. The Bears didn’t win another game until Week 18 when they snuck past a Green Bay team that had already clinched a playoff wildcard berth.
First Quarter
Chicago gets the ball first but can’t score
The Bears got the ball first, and with a 2nd down sack by rookie DT Johnny Newton, they almost immediately found themselves in a hole at 3rd & 15. Then, a delay of game penalty pushed the ball back to make it 3rd & 20 with the home crowd roaring. Caleb Williams eluded pressure on 3rd down, but the checkdown pass to DJ Moore was simply dropped. Washington’s defense had forced a 3 & out to open the game.
Commanders draw first blood
Olamide Zaccheaus had an 18-yard return on the return, but fumbled the ball. Jeremy Nichols was Johnny-on-the-spot with the recovery to save the Commanders from potential disaster. It was 1st & 10 at the 36-yard line.
Two plays later, following a 12-yard completion to Zach Ertz, Washington had first down at midfield. On that first down play, Daniels kept the ball on a zone read and ran for 9 yards despite the rib injury, then gave the ball to Brian Robinson on the following play for 6 yards and another first down.
With a fresh set of downs, Brian Robinson followed a pair of pulling guards for 19 yards to the Chicago 16-yard line.
One more Robinson run for 9 yards, and the Commanders, in the blink of an eye had 2nd & 1 at the 7-yard line. Jayden Daniels had only thrown one pass; the drive had relied on 5 runs for 45 yards.
After a loss on 2nd down, Washington faced 3rd & 3. Under heavy pressure, Daniels threw a pass to WR Luke McCaffrey in the end zone. McCaffrey caught it, but with a foot out of bounds, so kicker Austin Seibert came on the field and booted a 27-yard field goal to open the scoring. It had been a 9-play, 56-yard drive.
Chicago punts again
Following the kickoff, the Bears began their 2nd offensive drive at the 29-yard line.
After missing his receiver on 1st down, on 2nd down, Caleb Williams scrambled for 13 yards and the Bears’ initial first-down of the game. On the next play, he hit Keenan Allen running across the middle for a 17-yard completion to Washington’s 41-yard line. A false start pushed the ball back closer to midfield, 1st & 15.
A draw play on 1st down and an incomplete pass on 2nd down brought up 3rd & 10 back at the 41-yard line. An incomplete pass brought up 4th down, and Matt Eberflus decided to punt the ball and play for field position. The Bears had run 9 plays and gained 30 yards total for the game to this point.
Commanders score another field goal
A fair catch by Zaccheaus gave Washington its 2nd offensive possession at the 9-yard line.
After a short run and an incomplete pass, it was 3rd & 8 at the 11-yard line; Daniels saw a hole in the pass rush and scrambled 9 yards for the first down.
Once again, a short run and an incomplete pass — a drop by Terry McLaurin — brought up 3rd & long (9 yards). Jayden Daniels kept faith in his top receiver, however, throwing the longest pass completion of his NFL career, hitting McLaurin in-stride down the left side for 61 yards on a spectacular play!
At the time, it felt like that pass would be the highlight of the game. Little did anyone expect that it would be badly overshadowed by Jayden’s final pass of the 4th quarter.
The Commanders and Bears traded penalties, but Washington’s drive bogged down here. A run for no gain and an incomplete pass forced Washington into 3rd & goal from the 12. On that key play, Jayden Daniels was unable to complete a checkdown pass to Austin Ekeler. The Bears had shut down the Commanders in the red zone for the second time.
Seibert’s 30-yard kick was good to make the score 6-0 with 1:04 remaining in the quarter.
The drive had lasted 12 plays and covered 79 yards. At this point, Washington has out-gained the Bears 140 yards to 30 yards, but hold only a 6-point lead.
The Bears go 3 & out again
Two short runs brought up 3rd & 2 at the Bears’ 38-yard line as the quarter came to an end.
Second Quarter
On the first play of the quarter, Williams scrambled under pressure, but gave himself up a yard short of the line-to-gain. Matt Eberflus decided to punt again from inside his own 40-yard line. Another 3 & out for the black & gold defense.
Commanders forced to punt for the first time in the game
On the only really good play of the drive, Daniels hit TE John Bates on a catch & run that went for 20 yards and a fresh set of downs.
When they couldn’t move the ball successfully after that, Dan Quinn decided on 4th & 6 to punt. Tress way put it out of bounds at the Bears 20-yard line.
Commanders force a turnover on downs
With about 12 minutes left in the half, the Bears set up for their 4th drive of the game, having earned just 2 first-downs and only 39 yards, but with a chance to take the lead in the game with a good drive. To this point, Caleb Williams was 1-5 passing for just 17 yards, while Daniels was 5-11 for 99 yards.
The Bears started well with a pair of runs to earn a first down and get the ball to the 31-yard line.
On 1st down, the Commanders defense sacked Williams for a 5-yard loss, with the sack being credited to brand new Commanders’ defender Jalyn Holmes.
After a good scramble by Williams on 2nd down, the Bears faced 3rd & 2, but gained only 1 yard to set up a fourth down. At the Bears’ own 41-yard line, Matt Eberflus this time decided to go for it rather than continue to play for field position in a close game.
The Commanders defense came up big!
DJ Moore caught a pass behind the line of scrimmage, and was hit first by Ben St-Juste and then by Frankie Luvu to force the turnover on downs.
Bears force Commanders to their 3rd field goal with controversial ruling from officials
Washington had great field position. After a 12-yard completion to Ertz, Daniels appeared to hit Dyami Brown for a 24-yard gain on a screen pass, but a penalty for an ineligible man downfield made it 1st & 15 at the 33-yard line. On the subsequent 1st down play, Noah Brown was unable to hold onto a pass in the middle of the field that would have moved the chains.
On 2nd down, Jayden Daniels scrambled for 13 yards and did not slide, instead forcing the Bears defender to tackle him in the middle of the field. A flag for defensive holding added 5 yards and gave Washington a first down at the 15-yad line.
Two short runs brought up 3rd & 4 at the Bears 9-yard line — the 3rd time the Commanders had been inside the Chicago 10-yard line. Once again, they appeared to come up short. Daniels hit Zach Ertz for what looked like a touchdown, but the defender ripped the ball away from him on the ground. Dan Quinn challenged the ruling of an incomplete pass.
The ruling on the field was upheld. Facing 4th & 4, Dan Quinn sent Austin Seibert out for his 3rd attempt of the day. The 28-yard kick was good, making the score 9-0.
At this point, the Commanders had out-gained the Bears 195 yards to 59 yards, but led by just 9 points.
Bears are forced to punt again
With the half almost over, Williams had attempted just 2 passes.
After two plays, the Bears faced 3rd & 5 at their own 34-yard line with just about 4 minutes remaining in the half. If the Commanders can get the stop here, they will have a chance to really establish control on the scoreboard before halftime.
The Bears put together a long drive that went pretty well until they faced 3rd & 12 at the Washington 25. On third down, The Commanders entire front 7 appeared to hit Caleb Williams, dropping him for a 15-yard loss on a big sack that was eventually credited to Daron Payne.
The loss pushed Chicago out of field goal range and they punted. Zaccheaus bobbled, but held onto, the ball on a fair catch at his own 8-yard line. His ball security has looked a bit suspect at times in this game.
The story of the game so far has been both teams’ inability to finish drives with touchdowns.
Time runs out on the half
With 55 seconds left in the half, Jayden Daniels completed several passes to move the ball just across midfield.
With 8 seconds left in the half, a run by Austin Ekeler to make his fantasy owners happy gained 29 yards to bring the half to an end without another score.
The defense had pitched a shutout, but the failure to score touchdowns in the red zone meant that Washington, despite out-gaining the Bears 267 yards to 90 yards, didn’t really yet have control of the game.
Washington’s offense would, however, get the ball again to open the second half.
Halftime Stats
Statistics via ESPN
Third Quarter
Commanders and Bear trade punts to open the second half
Washington pushed the ball inside of the Bears’ 45-yard line with a big play by Zach Ertz.
The offense stuttered a bit on the subsequent plays until a draw play brought up 3rd & 11 at the 34-yard line. On the subsequent play, there was a penalty for illegal motion that was declined because Daniels had been tackled for loss, moving Washington out of field goal range. The entire sequence here was ugly, and the Commanders ended up punting for the second time in the game having squandered another scoring opportunity.
Bears 3 & out
Chicago started its 6th drive of the game when Tress Way placed his punt at the Chicago 4-yard line like a golfer chipping the ball onto the green and leaving it 2-feet from the hole.
The Bears went nowhere in 3 plays and punted the ball.
Austin Seibert kicks his 4th field goal
With a fair catch on a 50-yard punt, Washington would have started with good field position, but an unnecessary roughness penalty against the Bears turned it into outstanding field position.
Washington had the ball 1st & 10 at the Chicago 41-yard line with 09:38 remaining in the quarter and the opportunity to open up a substantial lead.
Incredibly, on the 3rd down play, Olamide Zaccheaus took a pass at the line of scrimmage all the way to the end zone, but Washington was flagged for Sam Cosmi being too far downfield. After the penalty, it was 3rd & 6.
Daniels made a beautiful completion to TE Ertz under intense pressure to earn another first down.
Now, with a fresh set of downs at the 30-yard line, Washington was again in field goal range. After two plays, they faced 3rd & a short 2 yards from the 22 yard line.
The offense couldn’t get organized in time and burned the second timeout of the half.
On the 3rd down play, former Washington DE Montez Sweat dragged down Daniels for a 7-yard loss on a run to the right. Siebert came on for another attempt and drilled a 47-yard field goal.
Frustration continues for the Bears
The score was now 12-0 with 05:48 left in the 3rd quarter. Washington had outgained the Bears 314 yards to 93 yards and had 16 first-downs to just 6 for Chicago, but it was still a two-score game. Washington has looked like the better team all game, but it’s dangerous to let a team like the Bears hang around without slamming the door and locking it. Twice in the game, the Commanders had appeared to have scored touchdowns, but each was (correctly) disallowed.
The Bears ended up with 3rd & 2 at the 50-yard line with about 4 minutes left in the quarter.
On 3rd down, a penalty flag flew early; an illegal formation call negated what would have been a 1st-down catch by DJ Moore. On the replay of 3rd down, another penalty flag flew; this time for a false start. Washington’s home crowd was doing its job.
On 3rd & 12 from inside their own 40, Caleb Williams badly overthrew Keenan Allen to bring up 4th down and force another punt. Williams was 4-13 for 38 yards with 02:44 left in the third quarter.
Commanders go 3 & out, cracking the door open for the Bears
A good punt and a fair catch put the Commanders on their own 7-yard line to start the next offensive drive.
Running the no-huddle offense, a pair of runs by Brian Robinson earned 7 yards to bring up 3rd & 3 at the 14-yard line. Under heavy pressure, Daniels was unable to complete the pass attempt to Zach Ertz, and Tress Way came on to punt from his own goal line.
Chicago scores the game’s first touchdown
Even with good coverage by the Commanders, the Bears were able to set up with good field position at their own 41-yard line.
On second down, D’andre Swift broke through for a 56-yard touchdown run.
Following the PAT, the score was 12-7 with 00:43 left in the quarter. Washington had held the Bears offense in check for nearly 45 minutes, but one single explosive play by the running back changed the complexion of the game.
A rare bad kick by Seibert keeps the Bears in the game
An incomplete pass on 1st down was followed by a beautiful strike to Terry McLaurin in the middle of the field. Following a good run, the gain was 25-yards. Another personal foul against the Bears gave the Commanders another 15 yards, giving them first down in Chicago territory as the quarter came to an end.
Fourth Quarter
With a fresh set of downs, good field position and a 5-point lead, Washington needed to put a touchdown on the scoreboard to open the 4th quarter or risk letting the Bears steal a win in a game that Washington had dominated until now.
The ball was on the Bears 36-yard line.
On first down, Daniels heaved the ball to Terry McLauren in the back of the end zone, but the ball was a yard or two overthrown.
A false start penalty against Trent Scott, in for Lucas and Coleman who were both injured, pushed the ball back to the 41-yard line.
An 8-yard gain on a pass to Luke McCaffrey put the team back into field goal range, and an incomplete pass to Ertz on 3rd down brought Austin Seibert out for his 5th field goal attempt of the game, reminiscent of his Week 2 game against the Giants. However, for the second time this season, Seibert missed a kick.
The Commanders had failed to turn good field position into points yet again, and the score remained 12-7 with about 14 minutes left in the game.
Bears and Commanders trade punts
Another 3 & out by the Commanders defense brought out the Bears punter for the 7th time in the game.
Chicago suffered yet another false start penalty prior to the punt.
The punt was marked out of bounds at the 9-yard line, setting up the Commanders with poor field position.
8-play drive ends with no score
On 3rd & 6, Daniels had good protection, stepped up in the pocket, and threw an 18-yard strike to Terry McLaurin for another first down. Terry was over 100 yards for the game; Daniels was now 18-33 and 250 yards.
Washington, however, couldn’t move beyond the 49-yard line. Tress Way came on to do his job. The ball was fair-caught by Carter at the 15-yad line with 10:28 to go in the game. The Bears had another opportunity to take the lead in a game in which their offense had managed very little beyond a single explosive running play.
Washington’s defense adds a big turnover to its excellent game
The Commanders defense had been stout all day, but on this drive, the Bears offense marched right down the field.
The key play cam on 3rd & goal from the 1-yard line. A quick hit handoff to the fullback — offensive lineman Doug Kramer — looked good until the Commanders started celebrating.
The handoff was never completed; the ball was fumbled, and Johnny Newton recovered the loose ball!
All in all, it was a pretty stupid play call by the Bears coach that breathed new life into the Commanders, but they needed to work their way out of a hole with regard to field position.
Commanders offense stalls — another 3 & out in the shadow of their own goal line
On 3rd & 5 Daniels scrambled and appeared to reach the line to gain, but the officials brought in the chains and marked him about 3 inches short at their own 13-yard line.
Tress Way was again punting from his own goal line. On the TV broadcast, I could hear the Bears fans chanting “Let’s go Bears” again and again.
Chicago grabs the lead with a touchdown at 00:25
A good punt and a 7 yard return gave the Bears the ball with good field position at their own 38-yard line.
On the 3rd down play, Williams completed a pass to Rome Odunze for 16 yards and another 1st down. With 02:59 on the clock, the Bears needed a touchdown to possibly set themselves up to win the game.
Swift ran for 2 yards to bring up 2nd & 8 at the Washington 17-yard line as the officials gave the two-minute warning. The Commanders had only one timeout remaining, which might make the closing minutes of the game particularly interesting.
As the clock reached 00:35, the Commanders could win the game with a stop on 4th and 3, while the Bears, trailing by 5 points, needed a touchdown to take control and set up an improbable win.
A flag in the end zone for pass interference called on Benjamin St-Juste gave the Bears first down on the 1-yard line. It was an unfortunate penalty since Williams had thrown the ball out of the back of the end zone; it could never have been completed.
On 2nd down from the 1 yard line, Roschon Johnson scored a touchdown to give the Bears their first lead of the game. A successful shovel pass on the 2-point conversion attempt made the score 15-12 with just 25 seconds remaining to play.
The Commanders drive 76 yards in 4 plays to win in dramatic fashion
In a game in which Washington had seemed to be in control in all three phases for 3 quarters, the Commanders offense would now be in desperation mode, starting their final drive at the 24-yar line.
1st down - Daniels threw a pass that hit the ground in front of Zach Ertz.
2nd down - Ertz caught an 11 yard pass. Washington called timeout with 5 seconds left.
1st down from the 35-yard line - 13-yard completion to Terry McLaurin who stepped out of bounds with 2 seconds on the clock. Matt Eberflus, the Chicago head coach, would spend most of his remaining tenure with the Bears explaining why his defense was playing off coverage here, essentially gifting the 13 yards to the Commanders.
Final play of the game - Jayden Daniels scrambled around with almost no pass pressure, wound up, threw the ball as far as he could, and the ball caromed off a group of defenders and pass catchers, landing in the hands of Noah Brown, who was standing all alone in the end zone. It was a 52-yard touchdown!
Six points went on the scoreboard, and Washington had won the game 18-15 in the most dramatic finish imaginable.
A lot of Washington fans never saw this play live, as they had turned off the TV in disgust when the Bears took the lead in the final seconds of the game.
The following day, video clips of Bears CB Tyrique Stevenson taunting the Washington fans with his back to the play on field went viral on all social medial platforms.
Wow.
Tyrique Stevenson seen taunting the crowd while the Hail Mary play was getting snapped.
Ultimately led to a touchdown that bounced off his hand.
Cant make this stuff up. #Bears
pic.twitter.com/1WklfpswtF
— Sky Kruse (@KruseSports_) October 28, 2024
Washington’s offense executed the low-percentage play beautifully, but Stevenson’s boneheaded lapse seemed symptomatic of the poor coaching that plagued Chicago throughout the season.
By contrast, Washington’s ability to come up big in “winning time moments” all season long was a testament to the detailed preparation that Dan Quinn demanded and the “cool” demeanor that made Jayden Daniels the ideal team leader in pressure-filled moments.
Full Game Stats
Statistics via ESPN