The Chicago Bears and quarterback Caleb Williams did it once again.

Williams pulled off another heroic late-game performance to beat the New York Giants 24-20 on Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field. The Bears trailed by 10 points with just over six minutes left in the game before Williams led two touchdown drives to pull off the win.

Sunday’s win was another in a list of unlikely wins this season. The offense didn’t have much rhythm for most of the game while it seemed like Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart was going to pull off a road upset.

Instead, the Bears are 6-3 heading into the toughest part of their schedule. Here are the five big takeaways from another thrilling late-game victory.

C.J. Gardner-Johnson makes an impact again

Cornerback C.J. Gardner-Johnson continued to prove to be a very valuable signing in his second game with the Bears as he made a few big plays that helped the Bears come back.

The first came in the third quarter when he forced Dart to fumble the ball when Gardner-Johnson flew in to knock the ball out. Chicago knocked in a field goal to make it a one-possession game.

He then made a game-changing play midway through the fourth quarter when he sacked backup quarterback Russell Wilson, who came in for Dart after Gardner-Johnson’s sack, on third down. It was his second sack of the game and forced the Giants to punt with a three-point lead. The Bears went on to score their game-winning drive as Williams scored the go-ahead touchdown.

Chicago couldn’t have asked for better results from Gardner-Johnson after signing him a couple weeks ago to fill in for an injured Kyler Gordon. Gardner-Johnson now has three sacks in two games and has made an instant impact for his new team.

“It’s just a blessing to be here,” Gardner-Johnson said at Soldier Field after the game. “Like I was home for a month and a half with narratives and scrutiny. When you have a great group of people, great group of coaches that believe in you, people who believe in you, I think all that goes out the window. When they can see a person and come in and just adapt and adjust and come in and play right away and make an impact on the team.”

Defense finds a way to make a stop

Sunday’s win felt like it had little chance of happening with 10 minutes left in the game. The Giants had driven down to the Bears 7-yard line and had a fresh set of downs even though Dart was out for the rest of the game with a concussion.

New York picked up six yards on a run but then Chicago had two stops, none bigger than when defensive tackle Gervon Dexter grabbed Wilson before he crossed the goal line. The Giants kicked a 19-yard field goal and chose to decline a Bears penalty that would’ve moved New York closer to the goal line.

Chicago’s defense forced New York to go three-and-out on its next two drives. Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds disrupted a Wilson pass on fourth down on the Giants’ last drive to essentially end the game.

Sunday felt like a mixed bag for the Bears defense. Dart had little trouble moving the ball, throwing for 242 yards and running for 66. But in the end, the Bears made enough plays to win.

“I mean you’re going to have that type of success anytime you play a dual-threat quarterback, as far as the run game, passing game, keep them in the pocket ...” Edmunds said. “We found a way to win.”

Can’t catch a break

Sunday wasn’t Williams’ most efficient game of the season. But his targets also had a hard time making catches in pivotal moments.

The first set of drops happened on the first drive when wide receiver DJ Moore had a chance to make a diving catch in the end zone and was followed up when Olamide Zaccheaus dropped what could’ve been a score. Running back D’Andre Swift and wide receiver Rome Odunze both also dropped passes in critical situations.

The drops were also an issue on the defensive side of the ball. Cornerback Nahshon Wright what should’ve been an end zone interception in the second quarter. New York knocked in a field goal after the missed opportunity.

Bears head coach Ben Johnson wasn’t worried about the drops since it was a unique problem. Bears players said they needed to do a better job of getting in sync with Williams on his scrambles in order to be ready for his passes.

“We have left a lot out there when it comes to those scramble plays and him getting outside the pocket and making throws to us and coming down with it,” Odunze said. “One, understanding what he’s seeing, our angles, seeing everybody else on the field, spacing it out a little bit just to create some separation. There’s a plethora of different things we can work on in that aspect. But looking forward to making plays in those situations.”

Not kicking it out

The windy conditions at Soldier Field took away field goal attempts for the Bears for most of Sunday afternoon.

Flurries and strong gusts swirled around the stadium for most of the first half while the winds continued into the second half. There were moments when there were strong gusts at the south end of the field and almost no gusts at the north end.

Johnson responded to the unpredictability by not attempting field goals too often. The Bears decided not to attempt a 47-yard field goal in the first quarter and 50- and 53-yard attempts in the second quarter. Kicker Cairo Santos did make a 22-yard field goal in the third quarter and all his extra-point attempts.

Chicago didn’t have too much success on fourth down as a result. The Bears converted on one of their fourth-down attempts.

Looking at the big picture

Sunday was far from a perfect performance for the Bears. The Bears didn’t click much during the first three quarters while the defense seemed on the brink of letting the game get out of hand.

But Johnson and the Bears said there were signs of growth in the win.

Chicago fixed two major issues that had become problems over the past few games. The Bears converted on three of their four trips to the end zone. They also committed three penalties for 25 yards. That was a vast difference from the seven they committed against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 9 and 11 they had against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 8.

Johnson felt those were signs to be encouraged as Chicago heads into a tough final stretch of the year.

“I do see us getting better each and every week even though it might not look that way when you’re necessarily watching the game,” Johnson said. “There’s growth each and every week right now.”