By HOWARD FENDRICH
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — It wasn’t quite the same drama as the Hail Mary that decided these teams’ game a year ago, but Caleb Williams and the Bears did get the better of Jayden Daniels and the Commanders on a final-play score Monday night, with Chicago defeating Washington 25-24 with a 38-yard field goal by new kicker Jake Moody.
With D’Andre Swift rushing for 108 yards on 14 carries, and grabbing a pair of receptions for 67 yards — including a 55-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown — the Bears (3-2), coming off their bye, extended their winning streak to three games under first-year coach Ben Johnson.
Washington (3-3) continued its pattern of alternating wins and losses in 2025 and flopped with a chance to pull even with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles atop the NFC East.
The Commanders, so good protecting the ball until now, hurt themselves with three turnovers, matching their total from the first five games.
“You really don’t deserve to win many games when you’re in that space,” Washington coach Dan Quinn said.
That included Jayden Daniels’ first interception of the season, rookie running back Jacory “Bill” Croskey-Merritt’s second fumble in two weeks and, most critical of all, a botched handoff between the two that resulted in a fumble as Washington was trying to run out the clock while up 24-22.
That gave Chicago the ball with a little more than three minutes left, and Williams then led the nine-play, 36-yard closing drive that finished with Moody’s fourth field goal of a rainy night. His teammates mobbed him, then raised up off the ground in a mass celebration on the field.
“I got here not too long ago,” Moody said. “But for everybody to embrace me and take me in as one of their own is an amazing feeling.”
Williams and Daniels — both won the Heisman Trophy in college and they entered the NFL together as the top two overall selections in the 2024 draft — are now 1-1 against each other as pros.
“You play versus great players, you want to have those games, have those moments, where you’re playing versus somebody else on the opposite side, where you’re going to have a battle,” Williams said. “He knows that. I know that.”
Moody, signed off the practice squad because Cairo Santos was out with an injured quadriceps, made field goals from 47 and 48 yards in the first quarter and 41 in the third. But he had a 48-yard attempt blocked on the opening play of the fourth quarter.
Moody was cut by the San Francisco 49ers — who drafted him in the third round in 2023 — this September after two missed attempts in Week 1.
“It’s always good to have a fresh start,” Moody said. “I always believed in myself.”
Williams finished 17 for 29 for 252 yards through the air, with the TD pass to Swift that was helped by a whiffed tackle along the sideline by Washington safety Quan Martin.
“That one stings,” Quinn said.
Williams also ran for a score.
Daniels ended up 19 for 16 for 211 yards and a trio of TD tosses.
“I’m not going to sit up here and blame it on the elements,” Daniels said when asked whether the weather played a role in the miscue between him and Croskey-Merritt. “I had a lack of focus there and it cost us the game.”
It was 50 weeks ago that Washington defeated Chicago 18-15 on a final-play, 52-yard TD pass from Daniels to Noah Brown.
That play is known as the “Hail Maryland” around these parts and as “Fail Mary” among Bears fans — and it sent Washington on a path that led to the conference title game, while beginning a 10-game losing streak for Chicago.
Injuries
Bears: WR D.J. Moore was going to stay overnight in the Washington area for precautionary medical attention, the Bears said after the game. … LB Noah Sewell was ruled out with a concussion in the second quarter.
Commanders: Daniels was without two of this top three receivers: Brown, who sat out his fourth game in a row with knee and groin issues, and Terry McLaurin, sidelined for a third straight week with a quad muscle issue. … DE Dorance Armstrong hurt his hamstring but returned in the third quarter and picked up his sixth sack of the season. He then left again.
Up next
Chicago returns home to face the NFC-worst New Orleans Saints (1-5) on Sunday, when Washington plays at the rival Dallas Cowboys (2-3-1).
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