Nearly one year later, neither Jayden Daniels nor Caleb Williams can escape the play that all but defined their 2024 seasons.
Asked about his 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown to beat the Chicago Bears a year ago at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, Daniels was in no mood to discuss what proved to be one of the most memorable endings in the entire NFL last year.
“That Hail Mary ain’t gonna help us win the game on Monday,” the Commanders quarterback told members of the media Wednesday in Washington. “So what’s the point?”
The Chicago Bears would certainly be on board with that. In some ways, they spent the rest of the 2024 season trying to exorcise the demon that was the Hail Mary play.
That game marked the beginning of a 10-game losing streak. The head coach was fired about a month later, and most of the remaining coaches lost their jobs at season’s end.
In Chicago, there was a clear distinction between the before and the after. Heading into the matchup with Washington, the Bears were 4-2 and coming off a lopsided win over Jacksonville in London. That Sunday in Maryland, Williams led what could have been a game-winning touchdown drive in the final minutes, leaving the Commanders with just 19 seconds left.
“I’m not going to speak for everybody else,” Williams said Wednesday at Halas Hall. “Does it bother me? Yeah, in the sense that I want to go out there and I want to win every single game.”
That game was billed as the first big matchup in what could be a brewing rivalry between Williams, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft, and Daniels, the No. 2 pick. The Bears had zeroed in on Williams pretty early on in the pre-draft process. Williams going to the Bears felt like a foregone conclusion for months.
The Daniels and Washington marriage wasn’t quite as certain until later in the process. But it has worked out better than anyone could’ve imagined. Daniels won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and led the Commanders to the NFC championship game as a rookie.
Monday night will be round two between Williams and Daniels. The Bears will return to Northwest Stadium for a “Monday Night Football” matchup against the Commanders.
Much has changed over the past year, most notably the arrival of Ben Johnson as Bears coach. Johnson certainly is uninterested in what happened last year. He’s trying to win a football game on Monday night.
Since he arrived in January, Johnson has talked about how quarterback play is the most important thing in determining offensive success. In Williams and Daniels, Johnson sees two promising, young quarterbacks.
“These are two ascending quarterbacks in this league, and I think we’re going to be talking about them for a long time in the future,” Johnson said.
Williams was a big reason why Johnson wanted to come to Chicago when he was considering head coach openings. Chicago was a city where he could see himself raising his family. And it certainly helped to have a young, ascending quarterback.
Johnson sees a lot of similarities between Williams and Daniels. Both are athletic and can run with the football, and both can sling it, too.
“Caleb, obviously, (I) felt highly about him, part of the reason why I wanted to come here, and I haven’t been disappointed with him whatsoever,” Johnson said. “He continues to get better, elite arm strength, the ability to extend plays. I don’t think a whole lot differently for Jayden.
“Jayden is an extremely accurate thrower of the football, something that I think gets overlooked when you look at him because he is so dynamic with his legs, and he hurts teams so much on the ground as well.”
A year later, the 2024 quarterback class continues to look like one of the best in recent NFL history. Six quarterbacks were selected in the top 12: Williams, Daniels, New England’s Drake Maye, Atlanta’s Michael Penix Jr., Minnesota’s J.J. McCarthy and Denver’s Bo Nix. All six are starting for their teams this season (although McCarthy is currently injured).
“It’s a pretty badass class, right?” Williams said.
Daniels, rightfully so, stole the spotlight from Williams during the 2024 season. But draft classes aren’t evaluated on one season alone. Monday’s game could be an opportunity for Williams to flip the narrative back in his favor.
And a win might — in some small way — help ease the pain of what happened to the Bears last time these teams met.
“(It’s) being able to orchestrate this game,” Williams said. “Orchestrate this week, have the guys focus on what they need to focus on — and I think that’s not necessarily going down the rabbit hole of the revenge title or anything like that.”