Jayden Daniels danced around the field looking for some glimmer of hope with the clock expired. He scrambled to his right, backed up and switched directions before finally rearing back and putting all his weight into the throw that he launched downfield.

The throw was just short of the goal line, but it didn't matter. Chicago Bears defensive back Tyrique Stevenson broke the cardinal rule of defending a Hail Mary play and tipped the ball in the air, sending it floating into the end zone.

Then came the eucatastrophe. The ball dropped into Noah Brown's hands, and jubilant chaos ruled the night at Northwest Stadium. Players stormed the field, the crowd roared and coach Dan Quinn threw off his headset with a smile on his face as the team and fan base celebrated Daniels and Browns' improbable play to give the Washington Commanders an 18-15 win over the Bears and a 6-2 record for the first time since 2008.

Daniels' touchdown pass, which put him at 326 yards for the night, was the reward for the waves of anxiety and stress the team and fan base had experienced for the past week as they monitored the quarterback's rib injury. Daniels was eventually cleared, but it wasn't a sure thing that he would play at all until hours before kickoff.

And then there was the game itself, which never felt like it was in Washington's full control even with a two-score lead in the third quarter. Similarly to their Week 2 win over the New York Giants, the Commanders had to settle for field goals thanks to a myriad of drops and penalties that could have broken the game open much earlier in the evening. Had it not been for the defense forcing Caleb Williams and the Bears to punt seven times, things might have been even more dire.

But even after one of its sloppiest performances of the season from the offense, the unit found a way to get into the end zone when it mattered most, even if it took a full 60 minutes of game time to do so. A 13-yard completion to Terry McLaurin set the Commanders up at their own 48-yard line, and Daniels and Brown took care of the rest.

Why the Commanders even needed the Hail Mary in the first place is the result of several head scratching and frustrating moments that the offense simply didn't capitalize on. They zoomed down to the Bears' 7-yard line before hitting a wall. Luke McCaffrey couldn't haul in an off-balance throw from Daniels on third down, and Austin Seibert trotted onto the field to hit a 27-yard field goal and put Washington up 3-0.

That became a common theme for the Commanders for the rest of the night. Their next offensive possession was a 12-play drive that featured a 61-yard catch by Terry McLaurin. Washington got to the Bears' 7-yard line again when a false start backed them up. Daniels' pass to Austin Ekeler, which could have at least picked up a first down, fell through the running backs' hands, forcing Seibert back out to hit another field goal.

The Commanders were back deep in Bears' territory later in the second quarter. This drive featured both a drop and a back-breaking penalty. The penalty came first, as an illegal player downfield call wiped away a 24-yard screen by Dyami Brown. Next, on third-and-4, Zach Ertz couldn't maintain possession on Daniels' throw to the end zone. The score was 9-0 after a third Seibert field goal, but it felt like Washington was barely clinging to the lead.

Washington's defense was what made the offense's three field goals good enough to build a lead. Williams and the Bears couldn't do much against the Commanders, as their pass-rush led by Frankie Luvu contained the No. 1 overall pick and forced him to make errant throws. They attempted to create some momentum with a fourth-down conversion at their own 40-yard line, but Benjamin St-Juste snuffed out a screen pass to DJ Moore, holding the receiver up long enough for Luvu and the rest of his teammates to join in on the tackle.

The Bears' last attempt at getting points on the board before halftime was ruined by the Commanders' front seven. Williams, who finished the night with 131 passing yards on 10 completions, tried to escape on third-and-12 but could not, resulting in a 15-yard sack that knocked the Bears out of field goal range before halftime.

From that point on, it looked and felt like the Commanders' offense was out of sync in a way that it had not been all season. Drives fizzled out in eight plays or less with drops or miscommunications. Despite getting the ball at the Chicago 41-yard line on their second possession of the third quarter, all the unit could manage was 12 yards -- just enough to put Seibert in range to tack on another field goal to make the score 12-0. Even more frustrating on that series was that a touchdown from Olamide Zaccheaus on third-and-1 was nullified because of another illegal player downfield penalty.

The Bears didn't have much more success, but they found enough to help swing momentum in their favor. D'Andre Swift broke loose on a jet sweep to the left, riding the sideline on the way to a 56-yard touchdown. They also got down to the 1-yard line two drives later, but Williams' handoff went awry and fell into the hands of Johnny Newton, who had three tackles and three quarterback hits.

But after a quick three-and-out from the Commanders' offense, the Bears were right back in scoring position eight plays later. A pass interference call on fourth-and-3 kept the drive alive, and Roschon Johnson pounded his way into the end zone to give the Bears the lead for the first time all night. Williams completed a shuffle pass to Cole Kmet on the two-point conversion to give the Bears a three-point lead.

Then came the Hail Mary, which the Commanders players said in the locker room that they had prepared for in practice. So, when Brown learned that it was his assignment to get behind the pile and be there in case the ball came flying his way, he was ready for the moment.

"We have a team full of fighters," Brown said. "I'm not surprised at all by this happening because I know we don't give up until the final whistle. It's just phenomenal effort on all sides. [The] Offense struggled a little bit, defense kept us in the game and offense found a way to pull through at the end."

Most will only remember the ending, but the players are aware that they have plenty to fix before they take the field at MetLife Stadium against the New York Giants. They won, and they're happy about it, but they also know it didn't need to come down to an improbable play to save them.

Still, the team is set up for the second half of the season in a way that few predicted it would be during the offseason. The Commanders are four games above .500 and first place in the NFC East. Everything, from a division title to a playoff appearance, is in front of them.

And no, Sunday's game wasn't the same dominant performance the Commanders had against the Carolina Panthers, but Brown knows that good teams find ways to win ugly games.

"By no means was it pretty on the offensive side of the ball. Shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties and stuff like that. There's a lot to clean up, but it's hard to win in this league, and we're happy we did."