(670 The Score) Moments before the Bears surrendered a 52-yard last-second Hail Mary touchdown to the Commanders in an 18-15 loss Sunday at Northwest Stadium, they offered little resistance on a play that proved to be pivotal.
With six seconds remaining and the Bears leading 15-12, the Commanders lined up from their own 35-yard line. Coach Matt Eberflus dropped his coverage back to the Bears' own 30-yard line, 35 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels recognized what the defense was giving him and hit receiver Terry McLaurin on an out route for a 13-yard gain to Washington's 48-yard line. The play took just four seconds off the clock, leaving two seconds to execute the ensuing Hail Mary heave.
Eberflus defended the Bears' soft coverage and their gifting of 13 yards to the Commanders, saying it “didn’t matter” because the game would come down to a Hail Mary heave no matter what. But speaking Monday, Bears veteran safety Kevin Byard didn’t seem to agree with that decision.
“I mean, I’ve had the discussion with Flus about it,” Byard said. “He has his feelings about it. I think it’s a lot of different ways you can defend those plays. Me personally, I think that in that scenario possibly could’ve had the corners pressed up there because they just ran two out cuts, and the play was called just to get a couple more yards to throw it down the field. If you had the guys pressed up, maybe they convert to vertices and they actually run the Hail Mary (then), but even if they do that, our corners run with those guys.
“I’m not saying (Daniels) doesn’t have the arm strength, but you think about the ball maybe landing 10 yards shorter and it may be a little different. I’m not saying that – we don’t know, it’s always looking back at it, woulda coulda shoulda. But at the end of the day, things happened the way it happened. Could we have sent pressure? Maybe. But he made the call and that’s what it was.
“He was receptive. Of course he is. I feel like he’s been receptive of all the leadership and things we’ve had to say and things like that. I wasn’t bringing it up to him like, ‘Hey we should’ve did this’ or whatever. I was just kind of like going through it just looking at it for future references if something was to happen like that again, possibly that’s a route that we take. But he was obviously receptive. And Flus been doing this for a long time – longer than me.”
Pressed on that decision once again Monday, Eberflus doubled down on the deep coverage tactic.
“In that particular situation, you always know that they're going to do,” Eberflus said. “With six seconds to go at the 35, they're going to either go for the end zone there or just try to get more yards and do that. So, if you want to play sideline defense, what they're doing to do is convert to the Hail Mary right there and then just run everybody off of the sideline. Then you have to pick them up from the sideline and do the same job that you're going to do in the Hail Mary. So, to me, we wanted to just bring them up so that they wouldn't get something that was too far down the field. Which was to the 48. And then we set up for the Hail Mary at the end."
Daniels executed the game-winning Hail Mary pass against a seven-man coverage unit by the Bears, connecting thanks to a deflection by cornerback Tyrique Stevenson that went into the hands of Commanders receiver Noah Brown, who was all alone in the end zone as everyone else was in the jump ball scrum.
The Bears trailed the Commanders for the majority of this game before a one-yard touchdown run by running back Roschon Johnson and the ensuing two-point conversion gave them a 15-12 lead with 25 seconds left.
It proved to be just enough time for the Commanders to respond on a prayer and win the game.
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.