By: Henry Quach🇻🇳
Photo Credit: Pro Football Hall Of Fame
In a close matchup between the Chicago Bears vs the Washington Commanders, all hope shrunk after the Bears gained the lead late in the fourth quarter. They quickly capitalize the scoring drive with a two point conversion. The score was 15-12 Bears.
All hope suddenly shrank with the home crowd in utter silence, preparing for the devastating loss as an impossible task was ahead for Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and the offense.
With 19 seconds left and one timeout, the Commanders needed to somehow drive down the field to about the Bears 37 yard line to attempt a 55-yard field goal to force overtime.
Which was Commanders kicker Austin Seibert longest made field goal in his career, which he accomplished on Oct.13, 2024, against the Baltimore Ravens.
Daniels started the drive targeting Commanders tight end Zach Ertz to gain some yardage for the potential game tying field goal but Ertz was unable to come down with the catch and it wasted seven seconds. However Daniels was determined to target Ertz again and it did work for an 11 yard gain.
However Ertz’s catch would cause the Commanders to call a timeout since he was tackled in the field of play, in which that would cause the clock to continue. With five seconds left, Daniels would find a quick and easy pass to wide receiver Terry Mclauirin for 13 yards, leaving two seconds for one final play.
The Commanders were too far from Seibert's field goal range, where he made his longest attempt, so they had no choice but to call for a Hail Mary play, in which all of the wide receivers and tight ends would all run down to the end-zone and prepare for a jump ball.
Everyone was ready and the play was live, according to Next Gen Stats, it took Daniels 12.79 seconds and scrambled for 40.7 yards to throw a jump ball toward the end zone. All of the Commanders receivers and Bears pass coverage players jumped up.
However, one Commanders wide receiver did not partake the pile up for the jump ball and instead waited from behind for a tipped ball after, that player was Noah Brown, who caught the game winning touchdown pass after the jump ball chaos.
This touchdown was an historic moment as it was the first touchdown since the 1970 merger that Washington scored a touchdown with the final play of regulation.
This historic moment would lead into a historic shrine in NFL history.
On Nov. 8, 2024, The Pro Football Hall Of Fame in Canton, Ohio announced that the Commanders Hail Mary play earned a display, as it collected Browns game worn gloves and the end zone pylon.
Those two items will join the Washington Commanders vs Cincinnati Bengals week three game ball, where Daniels made history on his own, earning the new single-game rookie quarterback completion rate record with an 91.3% completion rate, breaking Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott's record at 88.9% completion rate that was set in 2016.
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