CHICAGO — The Bears again leaned on quarterback Caleb Williams to provide late-game heroics that have become routine for the former No. 1 pick.
Williams led his fourth game-winning drive of the season to help Chicago come from behind in the fourth quarter and beat the New York Giants 24-20 at Soldier Field on Sunday. He is now tied with Denver’s Bo Nix and Baker Mayfield for the most game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime this season after leading only one during his rookie campaign (Week 18 at Green Bay).
But the way Williams has helped the Bears claw back in games is what’s becoming more routine. The quarterback picked up 52 of his 63 rushing yards in the fourth quarter against the Giants, including a 29-yard scramble that set up a 2-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Rome Odunze followed by a 17-yard scramble touchdown on the Bears’ next drive that gave Chicago the lead for good under the two-minute warning.
“He looks like a Houdini back there in the backfield because that’s a really good pass-rushing front that they’ve given a lot of teams fits,” coach Ben Johnson said. “There were times where he’s trying to escape and making some things happen. He had a couple throws down the field, but over 50 yards again rushing for the second week in a row, and I thought in the fourth quarter there we really needed that as a shot in the arm to end up winning that ballgame. So credit to him.”
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Williams now has 92 yards on the ground in the fourth quarter, which ranks third among quarterbacks behind Josh Allen and Nix.
“I think he got the green light to go ahead and use his legs more because teams are playing two-mans, quarters and man-to-man, so he can just be able to get out with his legs and be another weapon,” wide receiver DJ Moore said.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Sunday marked the Bears’ fourth win this season after trailing at some point in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, their most such wins in any season since the 1970 merger.
Williams was already one of the best quarterbacks in the clutch entering Week 10 and ranks No. 2 in QBR (94) in the final two minutes of either half this season where he’s tossed three touchdowns to zero interceptions and has not turned over the ball. But in the past two wins for Chicago (6-3), the Bears’ quarterback has become more adept at using his athleticism to beat teams.
In Week 9, Williams picked up 14 yards on a third-down scramble to set up his winning touchdown pass to tight end Colston Loveland to beat the Bengals 47-42.
Trailing 20-10 late in the fourth quarter before leading touchdown drives on back-to-back possessions, Williams relied on his legs again to put the Bears in position to win.
“He’s a unicorn, for sure,” Loveland said. “I’m like, how is he not sacked? He’s just running around, super slippery. But no, shout out to him. He’s just so poised. He’s in the huddle. He just went, ‘do your job, do your job,’ go out there, execute and making plays with his legs. I think that puts defenses in a bind.”
Throughout the 2025 season, Williams has been able to overcome slow starts and be at his best in the second half of games. As was the case against the Giants, Williams averaged nearly two more yards per attempt after halftime and threw a fourth-quarter touchdown.
Even though he is completing a higher percentage of his passes in the first half this season (62% to 60% in the second half of games), he’s averaging over a yard more per attempt in the second half.
Though Williams repeated his desire to see the Bears close out their opponents sooner, the way Chicago has climbed to 6-3 record entering Week 11 by winning close games gives the quarterback unwavering belief in his squad: “We know we’re real.”
“I’ve said it a couple times now, that it does build confidence that we can — it doesn’t matter the deficit we’re at,” Williams said. “It doesn’t matter how much we’re up. It doesn’t matter what happened throughout the game. We can come through as a team, and that’s what we did today.
“We would like to start figuring out as a team putting up points, stopping them, putting up points, stopping them, putting up points, stopping them, and getting to the point where we’re just kind of marching down the field, defense is stopping them, we’re putting up a lot of points and winning these games a little bit earlier than we are these past couple games.”
