Jay Gruden breaks down the Commanders' successful Hail Mary with Chris Russell

There’s no cheering in the press box, but it took all that Chris Russell had (and probably several others were in the same boat) to not explode after the Commanders completed their Hail Mary and defeated the Bears on Sunday.

And yeah, Jay Gruden, who has been in that situation before as a coach, totally gets it.

“I was at a little local watering hole watching the game and people went crazy. It was fun,” Gruden told Rooster. “It was a hell of a throw, hell of a play. A lot of question marks for the Bears on what they were doing, but unbelievable execution by the Commanders and Jayden Daniels. What a rocket.”

As important as being able to make the play was, though, perhaps more important was the fact the Commanders were able to execute a play before that to both get closer in position and leave enough time on the clock for the thrilling conclusion.

“That was a gift by the Bears; the two plays before the end of the first half, they played the fence coverage, and that’s what most people do with 10 seconds left – protect the sidelines so you can't run that play,” Gruden said. “If they do run a Hail Mary, you just convert, everybody runs deep with the guys and you bat it down, but to give them 13 yards and put them in Hail Mary range was a little befuddling to me. Hell of an execution, great throw, and good job by Terry hurrying up getting out of bounds.”

And then the Hail Mary, where Daniels had about a half-hour, give or take, to move around the pocket and get ready to launch the rocket.

“It’s an amazing play, and that's why you just keep playing until the end of the whistle. You never know what happens,” Gruden said. “It’s just an unbelievable throw and great execution by those guys. The Bears were chasing the guy that was at the 10-yard line for some unknown reason and didn't have enough guys back in the pack, and Washington made them pay. Give credit to the offensive line, holding those guys out. It was a hell of a game, but I thought Washington pretty much dominated the game from start to finish, and the better team won.”

And with all you can wonder about the Bears’ defense on that final play, Gruden had one you may have missed: why did the Bears rush three and still have a spy on Jayden Daniels?

“He’s just standing there with a pom-pom – what’s Jayden gonna do, scramble 70 yards for a touchdown?” Gruden laughed. “Absolutely no sense whatsoever. I'm looking at the play right now, and I'm laughing. Those plays take a long time, those guys got run 60 yards down the field and they try to get to in position to make a play, and that’s what happened. The execution by the offensive line I think was perfect, and obviously Jayden's ability to extend the play and then just get the perfect amount of height and distance on it, and then obviously the receivers making a play.”

Take a listen to Gruden’s entire visit, which has some thoughts on Tyrique Stevenson’s role and how the Bears defense could’ve modified, Jayden Daniels’ day overall, and more!