It was going to be a story about just how far the Washington Commanders have come, yet how far they still have to go.
After leading pretty much the entire game, it looked like the Commanders were going to lose to the Chicago Bears despite outpacing them by over 100 yards of offense.
For the first 59 minutes and 35 seconds of Week 8, Washington held the Bears in check. But with 25 seconds left, Chicago running back Roschon Johnson hit paydirt and gave his team a small lead. The two-point conversion made it a three-point advantage for his side.
Then, with just two seconds left, down three and out of field goal range, it was going to come down to a 'Hail Mary' or the old lateral and run play. A desperation plea that typically ends in rejection. The Bears started celebrating. - especially cornerback Tyrique Stevenson - while the Commanders prepared to execute a play they've practiced in hopes of never needing to use it.
“Just a last-minute Hail Mary trying to get down there as fast as you can, box out, get
into position, and help Jayden get the ball down there," Washington receiver Noah Brown said when asked to describe the final play of the game. "He did a phenomenal job keeping the play alive and getting the best ball possible and we came out with a dub.”
A 'dub' for those who don't know, is a win. Of course, if you saw the ending of the game, you might have figured that out yourself.
Officially it goes down as a 52-yard touchdown pass. Daniels' first of the game, and the only one the Commanders scored Sunday night. But it was the most important one of the game. But Brown says he wasn't there by chance. It was all by design.
“That happened to be my assignment for the Hail Mary," Brown said. "One guy in front, two in the
back. Trying to throw it up into a jumper and [TE] Zach [Ertz] did a great job getting a
hand on the ball, allowing it to get back to me and we made the play.”
As the ball soared toward the end zone it was met by the typical bunching of players awaiting its arrival. Typically, the expectation is that the defensive players will try to speed the ball's arrival to the playing surface while the offensive ones will try to catch the falling projectile. Not so much in this case.
Instead, Ertz's assignment was to bat the ball into the air - which he did - and for Brown to be ready in case it came his way - which it did, and he was. After that, all that was left was the celebrating and the lesson-learning.
One lesson the team didn't need to learn is that they are a roster filled with fighters. Men who won't quit until the battle is done. And that the battle is never won or lost until there's simply no time left to fight.
“We have a team full of fighters. I’m not surprised at all by this happening because I
know we don’t give up until the final whistle," Brown said of his teammate. "It’s just phenomenal effort on all sides. Offense struggled a little bit, defense kept us in the game and offense found a way to
pull through in the end.”
Just like that, the story of the night shifted from one of a team in need of further growth - to one that is continuing to demonstrate just how much its already grown.
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