Caleb Williams Has All the Answers in Showdown with Drake Maye

Caleb Williams was in his element and a few dropped passes or a long missed field goal wouldn't spoil his night.

The Bears quarterback won out in a big-play dual against Drake Maye and the Bears won 30-24 after Cairo Santos clinched it with a personal long 58-yard field goal.

"These nights are awesome," said Williams, who was 22 of 33 for 308 yards and two TDs. "You play against another good team on a prime time game in a short week. These games are awesome because you get to see who you are as a team.

"That's who we are. We're a smash-mouth football team, an innovative team. And when things happen and things don't go our way and the water is rocky, we stay steady. We're going to keep going, we're going to keep fighting."

Williams kept throwing even when it seemed the game was slipping away. His third-and-9 rocket over the middle for 21 yards to Rome Odunze got the Bears out of a hole at their 10-yard line and sent them on the march to Santos' 58-yard field goal and a 30-21 lead in the final two minutes. On the prior drive, the Bears ate clock but got no points when Santos missed a 58-yarder off the right upright but Williams bailed them out with a third-and-11 strike for 21 yards to Odunze on a similar pass.

Odunze finished with four catches for 69 yards, Colston Loveland seven for 69 yards and Luther Burden lit it up in the first half with all four of his catches for 130 yards and Williams just kept matching Maye, who finished 24 of 31 for 321 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

Williams admitted to feeling that personal rivalry with Maye, who was drafted third in 2024 after Williams was first. The two are 1-1 in games with each other, while Williams is 1-1 against the second overall pick, Jayden Daniels.

"I think any competitor, it doesn't matter the sport, is when something happens and the other guy that great quarterback, he's been a great quarterback for years, and so when that happens you want to go out there: 'Let's go get one, let's put the score back up, let's match that score from there.' And I think we did just that," Williams said.

"That's a great team over there. Defensive wise they do a great job. Offensively they obviously do a great job. They're well coached. We just made a few more plays today."

One was a 57-yarder he threw to Burden early to set up a touchdown. Just before halftime he threw a wide receiver screen to Burden, who bolted through a crowd for a 24-yard TD. Loveland caught a 12-yard TD pass on the first drive of the second half to put the Bears up 27-14 and get back momentum after a disastrous end to the first half.

"I thought all of our pass catchers stepped up and had some big nights," coach Ben Johnson said. "Luther started us off with the big spark there early, Colston kind of took it in the middle and then Rome came through with some big ones at the end that were huge for us."

If anyone had doubts about Williams for throwing so short last week but playing effectively, he took this one the opposite way on Thursday and averaged 9.3 yards per pass attempt with a 116.7 passer rating. The

"I think he did a pretty good job throughout the night," Johnson said. "I know he had a number of explosive plays. He found some of those guys at the second level that were huge for us. It took us a little bit to get the running game, feeling the running game and so he was able to extend those drives by being fairly accurate in the passing game."

Williams kept going back to his targets after poor plays. Loveland dropped a couple but got targeted for a big conversion on fourth-and-2 and a 9-yard catch over the middle. Odunze had an offensive pass interference but Williams came back to him late as they were able to protect the lead.

"I told Rome, we looked at each other right after we had that pass interference, OPI, down there in the red zone, that I'll come back to you," Williams said. "We didn't know when, and it ended up being a big part of the game.”

Williams avoided any more problems with his hamstring and set the Bears up well at 5-2 for their next big showdown type of game against the other 2025 Super Bowl combatant, the Seahawks.

"We're in a good spot," Williams said. "Obviously a long season and we've got guys that go down we've got guys that come back off injuries, all that."

It looks like one will be Cole Kmet, with a knee injury. Even that rough play near game's end couldn't dampen the feeling the Bears had after seeing Willliams go toe-to-toe with a Super Bowl qualifier and win out.

"So like I said I feel good going into this extended period before this next game," Williams said. "I'll be able to get an ample amount of time to rest, an ample amount of time to get ready for these next guys."