Williams keyed Bears’ victory with his legs

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was the hero once again in Sunday’s dramatic win over the New York Giants.

Williams led the offense to touchdowns on their final two drives to help Chicago overcome a 10-point deficit with just over six minutes left in the game. Sunday was the fourth time this season Williams led a game-winning drive in the final minutes.

Now things are about to get tough. Chicago will have one of the hardest schedules to finish out the regular season, starting with an NFC North matchup Sunday at the Minnesota Vikings.

Here are three of the most interesting things Bears head coach Ben Johnson said Monday.

On Williams’ judgment

Williams changed the trajectory of Sunday’s game by using his legs.

He rushed for a season-high 63 yards with a touchdown, and picked up critical yards on the last two touchdown drives by running. He also constantly evaded trouble in the pocket, limiting a talented Giants defensive line to no sacks and three quarterback hits.

The Bears’ coaching staff looked for Williams to use his legs to pick up free yards for much of the season. Williams showed Sunday how doing so can make him hard to defend.

“It’s something that we certainly want to utilize,” Johnson said. “It’s not something that we want to necessarily feature each and every week, but when the opportunity presents itself, we have the ability to capitalize on it.”

Johnson pumped the brakes on having Williams run all the time for a reason. He’s tried to help the quarterback find a balance of when to evade pressure and when to stay in the pocket. There were some moments Sunday when Williams could’ve stayed and tried to complete a pass instead of running.

One of those plays came on the team’s first fourth-down attempt when Johnson said Williams could’ve thrown to wide receiver DJ Moore. Instead, Williams scrambled and Moore couldn’t haul in a pass just outside the end zone.

Another moment came on a fourth-down attempt in the fourth quarter when Williams scrambled and couldn’t hit on a throw to running back D’Andre Swift. Johnson said Williams could’ve stayed and hit on a couple cross routes, including one to Rome Odunze.

“It’s a work in progress,” Johnson said. “I think the more comfortable he gets within the offense and the more trust he has in his pass catchers that they’re going to be where they’re supposed to be, he’ll continue to play within the rhythm and the timing of the concepts.”

On play calling and decision-making

Before Williams’ fourth-quarter heroics, the Bears’ offense had a hard time moving the ball against one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

Chicago put up 103 rushing yards and 143 passing yards in the first three quarters. But the Bears went 2 of 9 on third down during the first three quarters and picked up 15 first downs. That led to 10 points heading into the fourth quarter.

Johnson took accountability for the offensive inconsistency, especially on third down. He said in the moment there were reasons he called what he did. But with hindsight, Johnson wondered whether he should’ve done something else.

“When I go back and I looked at it, I thought they did a really nice job defending us and we didn’t do enough to counter that, and that’s on me,” Johnson said. “I’ve got to do a better job of that.”

The weather played a role in some of Johnson’s decision-making. Gusts howled around 20 miles per hour during the game, which forced Johnson to be more aggressive on fourth down instead of attempting a longer field goal. Chicago converted one of their four fourth-down attempts.

“If we go three-for-four instead of one-for-four, I think we feel a lot better about how that game plays out,” Johnson said. “But yeah, certainly the weather plays a factor in it. You go through your pregame routine, you get a feel for how comfortable you are with the wind and things of that nature. That all plays a part in it.”

On the state of the team

Chicago found another way to win ugly Sunday. The Bears had inconsistencies pop up in all three phases again. But they still found a way to win.

“We still haven’t put that whole collective 60 minutes, three phases together yet,” Johnson said. “Yet we’ve seen glimpses of it throughout the season so far, and so I’m happy with the fact that we’re winning games, or we’re finding a way to win games, and the guys are believing in what we’re doing. And yet we still have so far that we can still go and how much we can still accomplish as a whole team.”