Sunday was an afternoon filled with inexplicable events in the NFL. Week 8 delivered last-minute victories in four of the early games before the Commanders delivered the finish of the season with Jayden Daniels' Hail Mary to Noah Brown against the Bears. We saw a pair of 1-6 teams pull out upsets and a 1-5 team play, in one way, the worst performance of the entire season. The team that has been playing the most dominant football over the past month had two drops that would have horrified the 2023 Chiefs wide receivers.
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Let's talk through these plays and more by attempting to somehow and break down the inexplicable moments from Week 8. There's only one place to start, and that's the ending in Landover, Maryland:
Jump to a Week 8 question:
Why did the Bears give a lineman a key carry?
Why was Sean Payton sticking it to the Panthers?
How did the Lions score 52 points with 225 yards?
Why are the Chiefs still playing Wanya Morris?
Why couldn't Seattle get out of its own way?
What were the Colts thinking in the first half?
Did the Ravens lose their ability to catch the ball?
How has the Jets' defense collapsed lately?
What were the Bears doing as they tried to defend that Hail Mary?
The first matchup between rookie quarterbacks Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels didn't go as anybody planned. The two offenses both ran into major roadblocks, as the Bears went 2-for-13 on third and fourth downs, while the Commanders went 0-for-3 in the red zone. Washington went up 12-0 and held its lead until there were 25 seconds remaining, when a late Williams drive ended with a Roschon Johnson touchdown plunge. Chicago converted the 2-pointer to go up 15-12.
You saw what happened next. After a couple of completions, the Commanders got in range for a Hail Mary. Daniels scrambled for what felt like minutes, fired a pass downfield and got a perfect tip off the crowd into the waiting arms of a totally uncovered Noah Brown, who brought the pass in for a game-winning touchdown. You'll never see an easier catch on a Hail Mary in your life.