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Sunday’s game was one for the history books. The Chicago Bears were about to pull off a come-from-behind victory against the Washington Commanders, who were playing at their home stadium in Landover, Maryland. Although the Bears had trailed for the entire football game, they had just scored a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to go ahead 15-12 over the Commanders.
Only 2 seconds remained on the clock and Washington was 60 yards from the goal line as the ball was snapped. Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels had to scramble and dodge to avoid Bears defenders. Washington’s only hope was for Daniels to throw a “Hail Mary” – a desperate pass to the endzone that you hope will be caught by a teammate, but that is just as likely to be caught by your opponent or to be batted away.
(You can read more about how the Hail Mary pass got its name here.)
Daniels scrambled around for 13 seconds, which seemed like an eternity. When he finally hurled the ball, everyone in the stadium and watching at home held their breath...
A sports "miracle"
Jayden Daniels’ pass went 64 yards before coming down just in front of the endzone, where a scrum of Bears and Commanders players were waiting. As CBS announcer Jim Nantz described it:
“Here comes the Hail Mary, with the game on the line... and the ball is caught! CAUGHT! IT’S A MIRACLE!”
Indeed, as the players all leapt up the ball was tipped and went backwards, landing in the waiting hands of Washington Commander’s receiver Noah Brown. Touchdown. Victory, Commanders. In the words of Jim Nantz, it was “a miracle.” The stadium erupted. If you haven't seen it, it's a must-watch.
Some Commanders fans are already declaring it the greatest Hail Mary in NFL history. Having been a DC football fan since I was a small boy, I’d like to agree but know that I am terribly biased. When Brown caught that football, it certainly felt like the greatest Hail Mary to me. But moments like that are so rare and special, that they will naturally feel like the “greatest” to whoever experiences them. In a sense, every sports miracle is the greatest one.
However, I do think you can argue (and I will) that Sunday’s Hail Mary epitomizes what is so great about Sunday's play. It was the Ideal Hail Mary, because it revealed all 5 of the elements that generally go into a successful Hail Mary.
These 5 elements have valuable lessons for all of us, even for those of us who aren’t football fands or who aren’t very athletic.
1Maximizing talent
This one is rather obvious. It takes talent and a big arm to accurately hurl a football 50-60 yards. What makes Jayden Daniel’s final pass on Sunday so impressive is that he was dealing with an injury to his ribs suffered a week before. As former quarterback Tony Romo later commented, throwing a football that far is extremely painful when your ribs are hurting. To do it so accurately marks Jayden Daniels as a special talent who should surprise and entertain NFL fans for years to come.
Talent cannot be taken for granted, however. Though just a rookie, Daniels is already known and respected for being the hardest working player on his team.
Lesson to be learned: Do your best with the talents you have been given, even when everything looks lost.
2The Value of Time
A Hail Mary play takes time to play out, because the receivers need time to go down the field and get into position at the goal line. On Sunday, according to Next Gen Stats: “Jayden Daniels held onto the ball for 12.79 seconds on his game-winning 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown to Noah Brown, the first TD pass with a time to throw over 10 seconds in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016).”
Lesson to be learned: Every second is precious. That is certainly true in sports, but it applies to life as well. Don’t take valuable seconds for granted but make the most of them.
3STRATEGIZING FOR SUCCESS
As Tony Romo explained on the broadcast, while Washington’s successful Hail Mary looks like pure, absurd luck, “there is a method to the madness.” NFL teams practice Hail Mary plays every week, following a precise strategy.
That strategy includes giving yourself time (see above), properly protecting the quarterback, and – perhaps most importantly – knowing how to play in the scrum of receivers and defenders near or inside the endzone. If you are a receiver you want to catch the ball or tip it to someone on your side, while defenders want to bat the ball down before anyone can catch it. On Sunday, the Commanders players were especially clever because Noah Brown remained outside the scrum in the endzone so that his teammates could tip the ball to him for the score.
Of course, strategies are just theoretical until they are executed on the field. According to Roger Staubach, preparation is key: “You get good at [Hail Marys] by practicing them,” he told ESPN.
Lesson to be learned: Don’t just prepare for things that you think will probably happen but give serious consideration to what is unlikely to happen as well.
4the need for discipline
One of the things that make Hail Mary plays so rare is that they are relatively easy to defend. As a defender you have two basic goals: (1) Make it hard for the quarterback to throw the ball, sacking him if you can. And (2) If the pass is thrown, do not let an offensive player catch it. The best way to accomplish that is to knock the ball downward so that nobody has a chance to catch it.
Unfortunately for the Chicago Bears, they made several strategic mistakes on Sunday and two of them were particularly egregious. One of the worst was not using a time out so that players could compose themselves. Instead, many of them looked confused and overwhelmed.
Worst of all, one Bears defender was busy taunting opposing fans when the ball was snapped and didn’t even realize the play had started. Four seconds passed before he realized his mistake and dashed over to defend the goal line. As a result, he was out of position and ended up batting the football backward -- right to receiver Noah Brown.
Lesson to be learned: Basic values like discipline, maturity, and humility really do matter.
5LUCK AND A PRAYER
When asked if he thought he had a chance when the Hail Mary was thrown, coach Dan Quinn replied that “when it turned into Hail Mary time” his hope was “literally what it was named after.” No doubt most Commanders players and fans felt the same way as Coach Quinn, who is a serious Catholic.
Ten years ago, when he was an assistant coach for the Seattle Seahawks, Quinn spoke about how his faith related to his work life in this Catholic Exchange interview:
“Regular Sunday Mass attendance helped me to understand coaching better. The importance of structure, discipline and fraternity were clear in church, and they were also made clear to me in athletics. When you have a set routine that you stick to as a family or a team, it is so much easier to get things accomplished.
It’s also necessary to take time every day to step back, think and pray. Reflecting on what’s happened, what you’d like to happen, how to get there — all in the context of God’s will — helps you to see things in their proper perspective. When you take the time to think and pray, then you make the right moves in life, rather than just reacting to things as they come up.”
When asked for his reaction to the Hail Mary in a post-game interview, quarterback Jayden Daniels was quick to turn the focus away from himself. “Nothing but God, man. Nothing but God. Without him, I don’t think I’d even be playing this week. But, man, all glory to God.”
Lesson to be learned: Many of the coaches and athletes we idolize are vocal about giving thanks to God for their successes and turning to Him in good times and bad. Perhaps we should pay attention.
