The Commanders had a prayer answered to end Sunday’s game against the Bears, with receiver Noah Brown catching a tipped pass in the end zone for a walk-off, Hail Mary touchdown.
That came after the Bears had taken a 15-12 lead with running back Roschon Johnson’s 1-yard touchdown with 25 seconds on the clock.
But Jayden Daniels made all of that moot with his 52-yard score that was tipped in a crowd and went right to Brown in the end zone.
“When you lose a game like that, that’s a tough one to swallow,” Chicago head coach Matt Eberflus said postgame, adding he was proud of the team for battling to get back in it. “It’s important to look at that, too.”
But how in the wide world of sports did the Bears fail to defend that pass?
“It comes down to that last play and we’ve practiced that play 100 times since we’ve been here,” Eberflus said. “I’ll have to look at what the execution was of that, but we have a body on a body, boxing guys out like basketball at the very end. We have one guy that’s the rim, that knocks the ball down. We have a back-tip guy that goes behind the pile.
“So, again, I’ve got to look at it and detail it out and make sure we’re better next time. But, again, that’s a hard way to lose. But, again, I was proud of the way the guys battled all the way through.”
The Bears rushed just three players on the last play, which likely didn’t help matters, as Daniels had all day to throw.
“That is an option, no doubt,” Eberflus said on potentially sending extra rushers. “I’ve seen people do that. We have that. But, we chose to do the three-man rush.
“Again, I think he had it for over 12 seconds. I’m not sure what happened back there in terms of blocking and getting after the quarterback. … But like I said, execution.”
So how do the Bears make sure this loss doesn’t linger into the future?
“I think it’s having a strong mind and a strong conviction of who you are,” Eberflus said. “This is one game, right? I know when you lose on the last play, it’s going to hurt, right? But let’s go back and look at the tape and then get better from this. That’s what we always do. That’s what we’re going to do here.”
