Jake Moody’s game-winning kick lifts Bears over Commanders in season turnaround

LANDOVER, Md. — 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 on Jake Moody’s 38-yard field goal.

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.

Williams finished 17 for 29 for 252 yards and one touchdown, then led the nine-play, 36-yard closing drive to Moody’s fourth field goal of a rainy night.

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.

Jayden Daniels threw his first interception of the season and ended up 19 for 16 for 211 yards and a trio of TD tosses.

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.