None of the Bears best pass rushers were on the field. And the defensive guru Eberflus used Edmunds as a QB spy. Was he that afraid that Daniels was going to run it in from 60 yards? The extra rusher might have helped. Using one of the three timeouts that he held on to for some reason might have also helped. Classic Eberflus masterclass on how to blow a game.
To me, the setup with no rushers and trying to bat down a hail mary is the real problem here.
Daniels has a hell of an arm, he threw from the 35 and the ball got to the 5 yard line. But he was able to wander around long enough for his receivers to get 60 yards down the field, and step into the throw. Three rushers and then one LB sort of randomly wandering around at the 50 doing nothing. The Commanders had 6 blockers - the OL and the RB. Add in Daniels, that's 7 players. So only 4 players downfield. Bears had 7 players downfield. There should be at least 5 Bears players going after Daniels, including the guy randomly picking his ass. If Daniels can't get a good run at it, the ball gets nowhere near the goal line.
That last play of Illinois/Nebraska, the Illini blitzed, sack, game over.