LANDOVER, Md. — On the site of the Fail Mary, it was the Commanders’ turn to make a colossal mistake Monday night.
Call it the Hands-off Hand-Off.
The Bears capitalized when kicker Jake Moody, who had been on the Bears’ active roster for less than eight hours when the ball was snapped, made a 38-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Commanders 25-24 at Northwest Stadium.
The Commanders led the Bears by two with 3:10 left and faced third-and-one at the Bears’ 40-yard line Monday night, needing a first down — or two — to bury a sloppy Bears team. Jayden Daniels, who was drafted one spot after Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and who heaved the Fail Mary to beat them last year, took a pistol snap and turned left to hand off to Jeremy McNichols.
The quarterback fumbled.
Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright fell on the ball at the 44, giving the Bears new life after a game in which their own mistakes kept snuffing out the early signs of momentum.
The Bears handed off to D’Andre Swift for two yards and then again for three before, on the first play after the two-minute warning, quarterback Caleb Williams threw a six-yard pass to rookie tight end Colston Loveland for a first down.
Swift ran for 10 yards on the next play to get to the Commanders’ 31. Williams then ran for a loss of one, forcing the Commanders to use their final timeout. A toss right to Swift broke open for 15 yards, putting the ball at the 18.
Williams took a knee at the 20 to wind the clock to the three-second mark, ensuring the Commanders wouldn’t have a Hail Mary attempt to beat them.
Up stepped Moody, who had struggled so mightily in his first three years with the 49ers that the cut him after Week 1, only for the Bears to put him on their practice squad a week later. Moody was called up from the practice squad at 3 p.m. Monday to replace Cairo Santos, whose balky quad wasn’t fully healed 15 days after he first hurt it. Moody made three of his four kicks before the final boot, with the only miss coming on a block.
The Bears flubbed their first chance at redemption. With 7:57 to play and the Bears down by two, Williams jogged onto the misty Northwest Stadium field, a mere 9 yards from the same goal line past where the Commanders heaved their infamous Hail Mary last year.
On first down from the Bears own 9, receiver DJ Moore lined up offside for a loss of five. On the next play, running back Kyle Monangai was stuffed for a loss of two. On second-and-16, Olamide Zaccheaus, the former Commander, dropped a pass on a crossing route. On third-and-16, he gained 14. On fourth down, the Bears punted.
Had Daniels and his running back not fumbled the exchange, the Bears likely wouldn’t have gotten another chance to save the day.
Playing just 10 miles from Gonzaga College Prep, where he went to high school, Williams went 17-for-29 for 252 yards and one touchdown, a 55-yard catch-and-run by Swift in the fourth quarter.
Santos, the franchise’s most accurate kicker ever and in the history of Soldier Field, was replaced by recent practice-squad addition Jake Moody against the Commanders on Monday.
A packed legislative agenda for the Illinois General Assembly’s fall veto session might not leave much room for the Chicago Bears to get the stadium help they want.
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