The Chicago Bears (6-3) needed back-to-back fourth quarter touchdown drives at Soldier Field to pull off their latest clutch victory, this time over the New York Giants (2-8) in Week 10.
The only number that matters in football is the final score, but these four statistics tell the whole story of the Bears' thrilling 24-20 home win:
2
Despite being without his top receiver and running back, Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart had a great showing versus the Bears, finishing the game with two rushing touchdowns.
Marking the only two times that the Giants were able to get into the end zone, Dart punished a struggling Bears run defense on a pair of designed runs. The first came from the two-yard line, where Dart faked a toss pitch before walking, nearly untouched, into the end zone to tie the game early in the second quarter. His second score, which put his team up by 10 in the third quarter, required a little more athleticism as the Ole Miss product got around the edge and turned on jets for a 27-yard touchdown.
In just three quarters, Dart accumulated career highs in rushing yards (66) and rushing touchdowns (two), marking the fifth time in seven games that the first-rounder has logged over 50 yards on the ground. Dart also became the first rookie quarterback to score a rushing touchdown in five straight games, but he wasn't just dangerous with his legs, completing 19 passes on 29 attempts for 242 yards.
Despite the Giants' firing of offensive-minded head coach Brian Daboll following the loss, Dart's play-caller, former NFL quarterback Mike Kafka—a Chicago native and Northwestern product—is expected to retain play-calling duties in his new role as interim head coach.
For the Giants, Dart's performance brings optimism for the franchise's future, but for the Bears, it serves as a good reminder that this team has a long way to go defensively. Lead back Tyron Tracey finished with 71 yards on 14 carries, and the 169 allowed rushing yards moves the Bears' season average to 135 rush yards allowed per game, a bottom ten mark in the league.
130
On the other side of the ball, the Bears offense was up and down for the majority of three quarters until Caleb Williams put together 130 total yards on the team's final two drives combined.
Down 20-10, Williams and the offense took over deep in their own territory with 6:13 to play. A scramble and three completions got the offense to New York's 31-yard line, where Williams took the snap, peeled out to the left and scrambled for 29 yards down to the two yard line. From there, he quickly hit a wide-open Rome Odunze in the end zone to cut the Giants' lead to three while scoring the team's first touchdown since 5:40 mark in the first quarter.
Williams' late game heroics did not end there, as the quarterback followed up the 91-yard touchdown drive with a 53-yard touchdown drive. After rifling a 27-yarder to Luther Burden III to get into the red zone, Williams again scrambled to his left and punched in the 17-yard go-ahead score. Between these two possessions alone, Williams accumulated 53 yards on the ground and 77 through the air, which combined accounted for roughly 46% of his 283 total yards.
The back-to-back scoring drives flashed two promising traits that Williams possesses: his elusiveness behind the line of scrimmage and his clutch factor in late-game situations. Despite being the most sacked quarterback a season ago, Williams led all passers in sacks avoided in 2024. His continued development in this area largely helped him to lead the team's fourth fourth-quarter comeback win of the year.
57
While Sunday was squaring up to be a great finish between two young quarterbacks, veteran Russell Wilson had to play in place of Dart for the fourth quarter, where he finished with 57 total yards.
With Dart missing the final frame due to concussion protocol, the majority of Wilson's production came when he hit Tracy in the flat on third down. After breaking Noah Sewell's tackle attempt behind the line of scrimmage, the back took the pass for 41 yards down the sideline before being pushed out of bounds. This ultimately led the Giants' to their only red zone appearance with Wilson behind center. From the seven-yard line, New York went with consecutive rushes before allowing Wilson to drop back from the two-yard line. There, the veteran scrambled for a yard, setting up the Giants to kick a field goal just 12 inches away from the end zone and their third touchdown of the day.
The following possessions did not fair much better for Wilson and the Giants. The Bears were able to force consecutive three-and-outs before and between Williams' heroic fourth quarter drives, giving the Giants one final chance to score from their own 35-yard line with under two minutes to play. Wilson finished the drive with one completion - which went for no yards - on five attempts alongside an 11-yard scramble.
In the end, it was a disappointing showing from the veteran quarterback taking over with a lead in the fourth quarter, but the Bears defense deserves legitimate credit for adjusting to a new passer and toughening up when the team needed them most. The defense has a long way to go, but Sunday marked the fourth time they have been able to keep their opponent out of the end zone in the fourth quarter this season.
8
The Bears' defense definitely had its ups and downs versus the Giants, but their eight total big plays ultimately made all the difference in the win.
For this sake, "big plays" on defense include takeaways and tackles for loss, the latter of which often leads to quarterback sacks. Starting with the turnovers, the Bears were able to force just one, a late-third-quarter fumble from Dart on the same play where he appears to have gotten concussed. The fumble, forced by newcomer C.J. Gardner-Johnson, makes the Bears the first team this season to log 20 takeaways, boosting the team's league-high turnover differential to +14.
Perhaps even more impressive than their lone takeaway was their seven total tackles for loss. Of those seven, four came via quarterback sacks, with two of those coming from Gardner-Johnson out of the slot.
His second sack of the game forced the Giants to punt following a three-and-out, allowing Williams and the offense to set up at their own 47-yard line following a shank. Montez Sweat also tacked on 1.5 sacks, with nose tackle Andrew Billings leading the way with two tackles for loss in the run game.
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Defensively, the Bears have been up and down all season, allowing the sixth most total yards per game (375) while leading the league in turnovers. Their 21 sacks are right around the middle of the pack, but Sunday's win marks their fifth game with three or more sacks, and their fourth such outing over their last five games.