Indeed, Williams put the Bears in position to win by leading the late touchdown drive. As he stood on the sideline with 25 seconds to go, ahead 15-12, Williams believed the Bears he had done enough to head back to Chicago with his team's fourth straight victory.
And the football gods laughed.
Ironically, Williams' ascent to football stardom unofficially began when he was the quarterback at Gonzaga College High School and completed a similar Hail Mary pass to win a game – a clip CBS even showed during the broadcast Sunday. If that qualifies as irony, it’s the cruelest sort.
“Weird, definitely weird,” Williams said of being involved in two such plays near his hometown.
Even weirder? Watch a clip of the Commanders' final 52-yard answered prayer, the one circulating on social media, and you'll see Stevenson – the Bears’ mouthy cornerback – taunting Commander fans even after the ball is snapped. His back is facing the line of scrimmage as he gestures to the crowd. Then Stevenson moved toward the scrum, leapt to tip the ball and likely felt his heart sink with the rest of Chicagoans watching as Brown came down with the jaw-dropping, head-shaking, game-winning, season-defining touchdown.