LANDOVER, Md. (WGN) — The weather was horrible. The field was soaked. The temperatures were cold and rain poured down sideways in a stadium where the collective hearts of Chicago Bears fans, coaches and players were ripped from their chests one year prior.
But none of that mattered, strangely enough, thanks to the late-game heroics of a frustratingly stifled running back, and a kicker whose career seemed ready to fade to black just days prior.
The Bears started off Monday night as well as one could hope. They reeled off 13 straight points to begin the game, fueled by the fire of their defense, which forced two first-quarter turnovers that included a fumble and Jayden Daniels’ first interception of the year.
But momentum felt like it started to teeter in favor of the Washington Commanders the longer the game went on.
A 13-0 lead evaporated into a one-point deficit after a 17-3 run engineered by Washington’s second-year QB. Daniels dotted Chris Moore and Luke McCaffrey with long-range touchdown passes sandwiched around a 53-yard Matt Gay field goal. What initially felt like a game slowly sauntering away from the Bears, all of a sudden shifted gears into a steady jog heading in the other direction, thanks to special teams.
Jake Moody, who hit his first three field goals of the evening, lined up for his fourth attempt in the opening moments of the fourth quarter. As holder Tory Taylor fielded the snap, Moody followed through with a low-line drive that Commanders defensive tackle DaRon Payne blocked at the line of scrimmage.
That familiar pit in the bottom of Bears fans’ stomach started to return. The moment screamed, “Here we go again. The Bears are about to lose like they always do.”
But the thing is, they didn’t, thanks to Moody and D’Andre Swift.
After Daniels extended Washington’s lead with a six-yard touchdown pass to Zach Ertz minutes after Moody’s blocked field goal, Swift answered the bell.
Chicago’s next drive lasted all of three plays and 61 seconds.
Swift took the first snap on a draw up the middle through a crowd for six yards. After a downfield shot to Rome Odunze fell incomplete, Swift motioned out of the backfield and caught an out route from Williams. A stutter step froze safety Quan Martin, and Swifted jetted past him with nothing but green grass between him and the end zone.
“He was huge. This is the best, most efficient we’ve ran the ball all year. [I] really felt an attitude with him. He did a great job finding a little crease and stepping on the gas,” Ben Johnson said. “[He] played a physical style. Not only that, the 55-yard touchdown catch was really a game-changer for us at a time in the game where we needed a little spark.
“We were faltering a little bit as a team, and all it takes is one guy to make a big play like that and really ignite us again.”
Just like that, in a snap, momentum swung back in favor of Chicago, and the defense bridged the gap between Swift’s touchdown catch, and the eventual game-winner.
The Bears forced a punt despite a Jaquan Brisker roughing the passer penalty, and when Chicago’s offense sputtered, the defense came up big once more.
Daniels mishandled a handoff to Jacory Croskey-Merritt. The football bounced off the arms of the rookie running back into the turf at his feet before a diving Nahshon Wright landed on top of the ball.
The Bears had a fumble recovery with just over three minutes to go, and Williams had a chance to lead the offense to victory.
“Going into that last drive, I was thinking, this is going to be it for us,” Johnson said. “I want to make sure that they didn’t have a rebuttal drive either. So I told Caleb on the headset—tell the big guys up front that we’re going to ride the run game [to] victory.”
Swift had five carries for 35 yards on the final drive of the game. Overall, he finished with 14 carries for a season-high 108 yards on 7.7 yards per carry, plus two catches for 65 yards and that 55-yard receiving touchdown.
“That was my mindset,” Swift said of the final drive. “Finishing forward and if I found a crease, I was going to try to end it.”
Swift found his crease on second-and-12 with 1:14 to go.
Chicago lined up in 10 personnel at the Commanders’ 33-yard line with Olamide Zaccheaus and DJ Moore out right, Cole Kmet and Rome Odunze out left, and Swift as the lone back in the backfield.
Williams pitched the ball right to Swift, who followed Darnell Wright on a kickout block. Wright and Zaccheaus created a hole for Swift to cut upfield, who sliced past linebacker Frankie Luvu before being tackled by Bobby Wagner at the 18-yard line.
Enter Moody.
A Williams kneel-down was followed by Johnson burning the Bears’ final timeout with three seconds left.
Moody, who found out hours before the game that he would be kicking for Chicago on the national stage of Monday Night Football, lined up for his fifth field goal attempt of the game, this time, a 38-yarder for the win.
“It was wet, pretty windy as well. The wind was kind of tough. It kept shifting a little bit,” Moody said, recalling conditions ahead of the kick. “But nothing I haven’t played in before. You just got to treat it [as] one kick at a time. Don’t worry about any of the other stuff. Just focus on each kick with everything you have.”
Punter Tory Taylor fielded a clean snap from Scott Daly. He put the ball down and spun the laces for Moody, who followed through with a boot that sent Chicago to a walk-off win.
“I wasn’t surprised at all. We’ve seen him in practice for a number of weeks. That’s one. And then we also know what he’s capable of,” Johnson said. “He’s made big kicks in big games over the course of his career so far. So, none of that was surprising. I think that’s who he is, and I think that change of scenery was really good for him.”
On a team where the obvious heroes are usually expected to be the likes of Williams, Moore or Odunze, the former Pro Bowl running back, averaging 3.3 yards per carry before Monday, set the table for a kicker who was waived earlier this year—despite nailing three Super Bowl field goals as a rookie and starring as college football’s top kicker his senior year at Michigan—to steal the show.
“Let me tell you something. That was a team win,” Johnson said during his postgame locker room speech. “All three phases. It took all three phases to win that game … Best part of the game was this. Did it go up and down? (Yeah) You never blinked, not for one ******* second. Nice and steady. Nice and calm the entire way through. And you know what?
“Whatever it took, you found a ******* way.”
Just goes to show, when belief bleeds from top to bottom, anyone can step up and get the job done. Even if it’s a running back in what was the NFL’s worst backfield earlier this season, or the second-string kicker brought in last minute to save the day.
“Yeah, we got something. I can’t say the first word, but it starts with ‘S’ and ends with a ‘T,'” Williams said after the game. “We say we love this ____. We love it. The hard work, the effort, everything that pays off. We love it. At the end of the day, we’re itching for wins. We’re itching to get back out there and practice and things like that, because all the hard work is paying off.”