It was an unforgettable night at Northwest Stadium as the Washington Commanders eked out a heart-pounding 18-15 win against the Bears thanks to a Hail Mary at the death. Defensive tackle Johnny Newton, linebacker Frankie Luvu, quarterback Jayden Daniels and wide receiver Noah Brown made big plays and showed up as leaders in Washington's sixth win of the season.

Johnny Newton

After veteran defensive Jon Allen was ruled out for the season with an injury picked up against the Baltimore Ravens, head coach Dan Quinn said that Newton would be tasked with shouldering a lot of the load left by Allen's absence. Against the Bears, Newton showed exactly why Quinn feels he's ready for that sort of job.

Newton got off to a flying start in the first quarter of the Week 8 matchup against Chicago. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had little time to process what was happening on just the second play of the game as the Commanders second-round pick brushed off his defender and smothered Williams for a loss of six yards.

He opened the game with a highlight play and then tacked one on at the other end of the contest. In the fourth quarter, with the Bears down by five and on Washington's 1-yard line, Newton gobbled up a forced fumble -- his first in the pros. In addition to the tackle for loss and the forced fumble, the 22-year-old finished the game with three tackles and three quarterback hits. After coming back from post-draft surgeries on his feet, Newton seems to be finding the form that earned him Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors with the Fighting Illini.

Frankie Luvu

In a front seven that helped limit the Bears to 2-of-12 on third down, Johnny Newton wasn't the only star. Once again, Luvu, with seemingly boundless energy and hustle, was all over the field making life difficult for the opposing offense.

One of the many things Luvu was consistently impressive with against the Bears was staying with the shifty and strong 2024 No. 1 overall pick in Williams. In the second quarter, he prevented Williams doing damage was his legs, by not falling for quarterback's cut inside near the line of scrimmage and bringing him down for a three-yard gain that could have been more. He almost sacked Williams on the same drive (Payne eventually got to him) and helped mitigate the QB's effectiveness all game.

Luvu also was quick to be wherever his teammates needed him to help bring a Bear down. A perfect example of that was also in the second quarter when Chicago went for it on fourth-and-1. Benjamin St-Juste got contact on receiver DJ Moore, and Luvu came over to finish the job and force the turnover on downs.

Eight games in and Luvu is stringing together what could shape up to be a career season on a defense that is putting up stats it hasn't, in some cases, put up since 1997.

Jayden Daniels

Whether Daniels would even play in this game was in doubt until just before kickoff. Quinn stressed all week that they would not put the rookie out there unless he was able to play like his full self.

Well, Daniels threw impressive deep balls, danced away from pressure and showed off many of the other skills he's come to be known for without seemingly any issues in the win over Chicago. He completed 21-of-38 passes for 326 yards and threw for one touchdown, marking the first time in Daniels' young career that he has surpassed 300-plus passing yards in a single game.

And, of course, Daniels deserves tons of credit for producing the game's most dazzling play, a moment that some are calling "The Miracle in Maryland" and others "The Landover Longshot." With the clock expired, the rookie quarterback stayed composed while scrambling for 13 seconds, was able to set his feet and launched a 52-yard Hail Mary to give Washington the win and its first 6-2 start since 2008.

"We're blessed to have 5 leading this team. The things he can do are special," wide receiver Noah Brown said after the game. "I wouldn't want to play with any other quarterback. I'm glad to have him." 

Speaking of Brown…

Noah Brown

It is replaying on TVs across the country as this is being written, will be talked about by Washington fans for years to come and wide Brown is at the center, or rather, end of it all.

The Commanders were on their own side of the field and down by three. The ball was snapped to Daniels with two seconds left to play who, after circling around for perhaps the longest 13 seconds of many Washington fans' lives, heaved it with a prayer. It landed in the scrum of players at the edge of the end zone, tipping backwards off outstretched hands and into the grasp of Brown.

"That happened to be my assignment for the Hail Mary," Brown explained after the game. "One guy in front, two in the back. Trying to throw it up into a jumper and [TE] Zach [Ertz] did a great job getting a hand on the ball, allowing it to get back to me and we made the play."

Clutch.