Dan Quinn had a smile on his face as he handed the game ball from the Washington Commanders' 18-15 last-second win over the Chicago Bears to Noah Brown, the player who answered the 52-yard prayer sent up by Jayden Daniels as time expired.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment for Brown, who secured his first touchdown reception of the season in one of the franchise's greatest moments. However, Brown pointed to the other side of the ball as the reason he was able to make the play in the first place.

"Defense, this win's on y'all," Brown said while crowded around his teammates.

The fact that Washington's defense was the unit keeping hopes alive against the Bears shows just how far the unit has come in two months. They were ranked 26th in yards allowed heading into the first matchup against the New York Giants. Now, days ahead of the rematch, they're a much more respectable group, ranking 13th in yards allowed, sixth against the pass and 10th in points allowed.

There's still more for the unit to work on as they enter the second half of the season, but Quinn hopes the Bears game is another step in the right direction.

"We've been aiming at improvement and making significant improvement in a lot of the spots," Quinn said.

The Commanders have largely hit the targets they've been aiming at since giving up 37 points against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. From Weeks 2-8, they held five of their seven opponents to less than 20 points, with the only exceptions being the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens.

The defense has made a bigger jump over the last two weeks, particularly against the pass. The Carolina Panthers and Bears combined for 190 yards through the air, and over the last three, only the Philadelphia Eagles have given up fewer passing yards.

Part of that stems from the strides made in communication, a consistent sticking point for defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. Whitt put the blame on himself after the 30-23 loss to the Ravens, saying that he needs to do a better job of making sure that communication is properly sent, received and acknowledged. Regardless of whose fault it was, it was clear that the Commanders were out of sync at times against the Ravens, as shown by plays like the wide-open 38-yard reception to tight end Mark Andrews.

Things were much better against the Panthers and Bears, as only three combined passes in those matchups went for more than 20 yards. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had just 36 passing yards until the Bears' final two drives.

"We talked about coming up here a number of times and said communication was a little bit of a problem for us," Whitt said. "And if you go back and look at the film, you can see the over communication of the men. And that's why we were able to set our feet, we were able to play downhill."

Washington's emerging pass rush has also played a role in the defense's success. Fourteen of the Commanders' 22 sacks have come in the last four games. Ten Commanders players have recorded at least one sack this season, and over the last three games, their sack percentage ranks eighth in the NFL. They're also tied for 10th in sacks per game.

Some of that comes from the defensive line learning how to finish plays -- a problem that plagued the group earlier in the season. Whitt is also learning more about his personnel and how to best utilize his players.

"We'll generate the pressure because we're putting people in better positions," Whitt said. "And it's players over plays, give them fast plays, let them set their feet, let them play downhill and they'll play with balance."

Over the last five games, the Commanders have given up 15.8 points per game, which Whitt called "high level defense" during his Thursday press conference. They'll need that same level of production in the second half of the season, as five of their next nine games are against division opponents and only two are against non-conference opponents.

But in typical fashion, Whitt is not completely satisfied and wants more, both from the defense and himself as a play-caller, over the next two months. He cited the Bears' fourth-quarter touchdown and two-point conversion that gave Chicago the lead with less than 30 seconds left. Looking back, Whitt didn't like the call that he gave in that moment. It was a "safe call, but it wasn't the perfect call."

It bothered him so much that he was still "a little pissed" even when Daniels threw the Hail Mary pass to save the game.

"We should close the game, finish the game in those winning moments," Whitt said. "And I blame myself because we were in a solid call, but there was a better call that I should have got to, and I didn't. And that's not acceptable."