When the Bears’ Jake Moody, a guy the 49ers once cut after one dismal week, nailed a perfect 38-yard field goal, it hit the Washington Commanders hard. Jayden Daniels’ team just watched a massive 4th-quarter lead simply evaporate on Monday night. Whom to blame?

Former Washington Commanders QB Robert Griffin III stated plainly that the “Washington Commanders handed this win to the Chicago Bears.” He wasn’t done there. He argued, blaming the mistakes, “You can’t lose the turnover battle and have the unforced error of the fumble on the QB-RB exchange with 3 mins left in the game as you are driving to go win the game. Period.” 

They were driving, up 24-22, in position to chew clock and end the night. Instead, they finished the night 3-3, staring down a self-inflicted wound.

They finished the night having ceded the turnover battle 3-0. Jayden Daniels threw an INT in Bears territory early on, killing a red-zone drive. Jacory Croskey-Merritt lost a fumble, too.

And while the missed 50-yd FG by Matt Gay technically isn’t a turnover, it was another wasted possession. These miscues meant the Commanders left at least 6 points on the field in the first half alone.

The specter of third-and-short

That final turnover arrived on third-and-1 with 3 minutes left. Daniels mishandled the exchange with Crosley-Merritt, and the Bears recovered the ball at their own 44. 

Up until that point, the Commanders’ offense, despite its earlier slip-ups, had been doing well. Daniels looked electric in the second half, throwing for 2 TDs (3 in total) and finding connections like the 37-yd deep shot to Jeremy Lane that set up Zach Ertz’s score. The offense moved the ball 31:34 of the game and picked up 22 first downs. 

On the other side of the field, the Bears were only too happy to inherit Washington’s charitable gift. They had their own errors, including a blocked FG and an illegal formation penalty, but they found salvation in D’Andre Swift.

The runner took over the final drive, rushing for 34 crucial yds. He averaged a blistering 7.7 yds per carry on the night, totaling 175 yds from scrimmage. Swift’s performance put the team in position for Moody, the cast-off kicker who hit 4 of 5 FGs, to strike a blow for redemption. It’s a bitter anecdote for Washington: the kicker they helped save is the one who ultimately buried them.

So, where do the Commanders go from here? Daniels finished with a decent line (19/26 for 211 yds, 3 TDs, 1 INT), but his 2 turnovers, culminating in that fumble, will haunt the film room.

The team came back from a 13-0 deficit, clawed their way to a lead, and then, inexplicably, allowed the whole grand effort to collapse on a botched handoff. It’s the ultimate failure of intention all the fire, all the drive, extinguished by the damp chill of a simple, unforced exchange.