Jayden Daniels delivers miraculous Hail Mary game-winner to stun Bears

Jayden Daniels has delivered the biggest moment yet of his remarkable rookie season in the NFL.

On Sunday night, Daniels connected on a Hail Mary tip-drill touchdown pass to Noah Brown with no time remaining to give the Washington Commanders an 18-15 win over the Chicago Bears. The Commanders trailed the Bears 15-12 with just 23 seconds left in regulation as Chicago’s Roschon Johnson punched it in from a yard out, followed by a successful 2-point try.

That left Daniels without much time to push his offense down the field. An Austin Ekeler return on the ensuing kickoff put the Commanders at the 24, with Daniels firing incomplete to Zach Ertz before connecting with his tight end for 11 yards and hooking up with Terry McLaurin for 13 yards.

Then, on the game’s final play, Daniels launched the ball toward the end zone, and after it was tipped by a Bears defender, it fell into the arms of Brown.

Here’s video of how it happened, with Jim Nantz on the call for CBS:

A;FK;JD;KJF;LAKEJFLKJVAL;KEJL;JF;EFJ;LFAKJ

JAYDEN DANIELS HAIL MARY! @COMMANDERS WIN! pic.twitter.com/BsQ0Z84Rko

— NFL (@NFL) October 27, 2024

This will go down as a memorable night for Daniels and the Commanders, who are one of the NFL’s biggest surprises under their rookie QB and first-year head coach Dan Quinn. They improved to 6-2 and remained perfect at Northeast Stadium with a 4-0 mark.

It’s getting increasingly harder to see someone else taking Rookie of the Year honors from Daniels, and he added to his case in a massive way on Sunday.

Sydney Hunte

Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.