Bear Digest

Bears and Jake Moody have prayers answered in 25-24 win over Commanders

Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels bobbled the ball and lost it on a handoff to set up the winning drive to a 38-yard game-ending field goal by backup Bears kicker Jake Moody.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears running back D'Andre Swift slips while defended by Washington Commanders safety Quan Martin in the first half Monday night.
Bears running back D'Andre Swift slips while defended by Washington Commanders safety Quan Martin in the first half Monday night. | Peter Casey-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

There was no Hail Mary to rescue Jayden Daniels this time, only a wet football and Jake Moody's foot.

The backup Bears kicker recovered from a blocked field goal earlier in the fourth quarter Monday to make a game-winning 38-yard field goal as time expired for a 25-24 win over the Commanders.

With the Bears needing a big play by their defense to get the ball back inside of three minutes, fate and irony smiled on them. Daniels, who threw the fateful Hail Mary pass to beat the Bears last year, bobbled and lost the wet football trying to hand off to Jacory Croskey-Merritt.

Nahshon Wright recovered at the Bears 44 and the Bears drove 36 yards thanks to D'Andre Swift's running for the winning kick. Moody was kicking because of an injury to Cairo Santos and earlier made three other field goals.

The Bears did so much in the game that could portend bigger things for their future, and the win made them 3-2 and right in the playoff hunt after an 0-2 start.

Washington rebounded from big early blows landed by the Bears offense and defense and had a 24-16 lead thanks to Daniels touchdown passes of 33 yards to Jake McCaffrey and 6 yards to Zach Ertz. But the Bears rallied.

The Bears had the chance to tie after pulling within 24-22 on Swift's 55-yard catch and run for a touchdown but Caleb Williams didn't spot a wide open Kyle Monangai and threw incomplete on the two-point conversion.

For much of the game the Bears did what they hadn't done to date and they ran the ball while defending the run. They had 145 yards rushing, 108 on 14 tries by Swift, and Williams completed 17 of 29 for 252 yards and the TD to Swift. He also had a TD pass to Rome Odunze wiped out by an illegal formation penalty on Theo Benedet.

The Bears came out on fire, jumping out to a 13-0 lead aided by two early takeaways but the Commanders struck back.

Moody ended an eight-play drive with a 47-yard field goal to start the game.

Then Jaquan Brisker ended the first Commanders drive with Daniels' first interception of the season, a ball he plucked downfield at the 4-yard line and returned 30 yards.

The Bears took it straight down the field and kicked a 48-yard Moody field goal on a drive killed by a questionable pass interference call on Colston Loveland.

Then Montez Sweat stripped the ball from Jacory Croskey-Merritt and T.J. Edwards dug out the recovery in his return from a hamstring injury. Williams took it in from the 1 to end a 35-yard drive for the 13-0 lead.

The Bears defense went on to hold Washington's running game to 124 yards, a strong performance based on what occurred through the first four Chicago games as the return of Kyler Gordon and T.J. Edwards bolstered the defense. Daniels went 17 of 29 for 211 yards and three TDs, but didn't generate enough points or hold the ball when he needed to do it.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.