Caleb Williams found himself in a familiar situation as he stood on the field of Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon.

He and his Chicago Bears teammates stood near their own 9-yard line as they prepared to start their next drive against the New York Giants. The Bears trailed by 10 points with just over six minutes left in the game and needed to find any sort of offensive spark in a game void of them.

Before the drive started, Williams took a few deep breaths and started to feel his body calm down. Williams let the moment take over and decided it was time to go make a play to win the game.

He did that and more.

Williams’ clutch gene kicked in yet again Sunday. He led two touchdown drives in the final minutes by making instinctive plays both with his arm and legs. It led to a 24-20 Bears win, their fourth this season in late-game fashion.

“Some people might speed up and feel the pressure that moment,” wide receiver Rome Odunze said in the home Soldier Field locker room after the game. “Everything kind of slows down for him. He’s just very present in the moment and making those plays. That’s when he puts a Superman cape on and goes out there and [is] extraordinary.”

Williams was extraordinary in a game that was far from it up to that point.

With 20-mile-per-hour gusts and flurries engulfing the stadium for much of the first three quarters, Williams and the offense couldn’t find any rhythm. That drive with six minutes left in the game seemed destined for the same end before Williams started to take over.

Facing third-and-10 from his own 26, Williams darted a 20-yard pass that rookie tight end Colston Loveland adjusted mid-air to catch. The Bears moved the ball down the field after a penalty and a completion to Odunze before a pivotal decision by Williams changed the trajectory of the game.

Williams scrambled to his left and started running down the sideline. Instead of running out of bounds, Williams chose to stay in bounds and got down to the Giants 2. He tried to catch his breath as the Bears moved quickly. Williams found a wide-open Odunze to make it a three-point game.

“It’s time to go make a play,” Williams said of that decision. “It’s time to go win the game.”

Williams got that opportunity to win the game after the defense forced a stop and the Giants shanked a punt that went to the Bears 47. After a 7-yard run from D’Andre Swift, Williams ripped a 27-yard pass to his right to rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III that put the Bears in a comfortable position to at least go for the tie.

But he and the Bears went for the kill.

Williams ran to his left on a naked keeper with tight end Cole Kmet running in front of him. Once Kmet felt Williams’ demeanor change, he quickly adjusted. Kmet took his defender with him to the end zone, which left open space for his quarterback.

Williams ran in for the 17-yard touchdown as he ran toward the stadium’s tunnel yelling to Bears fans.

“It’s just his will to win, man,” Burden said. “He’ll do anything to come back in the locker room and celebrate with his teammates. Man, he’s a great leader for this organization. I got all the confidence in the world in him.”

It’s hard not to have that confidence in Williams nine games into the season. Not only did Williams lead his fourth game-winning touchdown in the final minutes of a game. He’s shown growth along the way.

Williams has made the big throws before. He completed 55.6% of his passes Sunday for 220 yards and a touchdown. Williams has also seemingly always found ways to scramble out of trouble, earning himself the “Houdini” nickname from Bears head coach Ben Johnson. The Giants’ talented pass rush didn’t have a sack against him and only had three quarterback hits.

On Sunday, though, Williams did a better job of using his elusiveness to pick up positive yardage. He finished with 63 rushing yards and a touchdown and accomplished something the Bears coaching staff had looked for all season.

“We really needed that as a shot in the arm to end up winning that ball game,” Johnson said. “Credit to him.”

Johnson and the Bears said there’s no doubt in their minds that they have a chance to win a game if the score is close with a few minutes left. They’ve done it four times now after doing it against the Las Vegas Raiders, Washington Commanders, Cincinnati Bengals and now the Giants.

Odunze said that belief comes from playing in the “know.” All the Bears players know what they’re supposed to do in two-minute situations and execute in order to win those tight games.

“Some people might speed up and feel the pressure that moment. Everything kind of slows down for him. He’s just very present in the moment and making those plays. That’s when he puts a Superman cape on and goes out there and [is] extraordinary.”

—  Rome Odunze, Bears wide receiver

It’ll be valuable experience heading into the rest of the season. Chicago has the hardest strength of schedule according to Tankathon with matchups set against the NFC North teams and the Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers.

But afternoons like Sunday reinforce an idea. No matter what the Bears face, Williams and the Bears are confident they’ll find a way to win.

“It does build confidence,” Williams said. “It doesn’t matter how, the deficit we’re at, how much we’re up, it doesn’t matter what happened throughout the game, we can come through as a team. That’s what we did today.”