Commanders radio call of Jayden Daniels Hail Mary is pure madness and what football is all about

The Washington Commanders beat the Chicago Bears on Sunday behind what will surely go down as the greatest play of the 2024 NFL season. Never have skill, luck, and aerodynamics so perfectly melded to lift a team to victory.

Chicago took a 15-12 lead with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Commanders' chances were reduced to lobbing a Hail Mary from the 49-yard line as time expired. Jayden Daniels did his standard dance around the backfield, evading the Bears' light pass rush until the receivers were within striking distance of the end zone.

He rifled it high and deep, falling perfectly into a bubbling mass of Commanders and Bears located roughly two yards from the goal line. There was no chance for anybody in the initial clump of players to catch it, but Chicago did successfully get a hand on the football.

The only issue? It went back and up, rather than to the ground. The football dropped softly into the wide-open arms of Commanders WR Noah Brown, who stood behind the crowd, perfectly placed for that exact deflection angle.

Touchdown Washington, ballgame over.

That is pure electricity in Northwest Stadium. The crowd reactions, Dan Quinn jumping for joy on the sideline, the players celebrating — it doesn't get much better.

Nobody brought the energy quite like the Commanders radio broadcast, though.

Commanders radio call for Jayden Daniels' game-winning Hail Mary is beautiful chaos

I'm not even going to attempt a transcript here. That is unquotable and entirely perfect. Just pure elation over the airwaves, the appropriate reaction to a play we're lucky to see once every decade. Successful Hail Marys happen, but not very often, and almost never the same way. The exact sequence of events required for the football to end up in Noah Brown's hands where it did, how it did, will never be replicated again. That is a scientific fact.

The Commanders move to 6-2 with the victory, maintaining a half-game lead over the Philadelphia Eagles in a contested NFC East. The Jayden Daniels experience continues to placate football's most restless fandom. After years of frustrating mediocrity, the Commanders have a great coach, a top-notch OC, and their franchise superstar in the making. Big things are happening in the capital, and this win over a very good Bears team is proof positive that Washington has the juice.

Chicago's defense was excellent in this game, but Daniels was able to scrap his way across the finish line. The Commanders have won every way this season, ranging from offensive shootouts to low-scoring, grind-it-out affairs. That is the sign of a real contender.

There is still a lot the Commanders must prove relative to the Eagles or other more established postseason threats in the NFC, but few teams have measured up to Washington so far this season. If Daniels is eschewing Rookie of the Year discourse for MVP buzz, there's no reason to believe this magic season won't continue for the Commanders.