The Chicago Bears are heading on the road with something to prove Sunday.

Chicago will have a chance to erase an 0-2 start to the season when it plays the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. A win on Sunday will get the Bears back to .500 and give them momentum as they head into their Week 5 bye week.

Sunday should tell us a lot about head coach Ben Johnson’s team. Will it respond with another strong performance on the road after its best game of the season against the Dallas Cowboys? Or will some of the Bears’ habits from the first two losses come back?

Sunday’s game kicks off at 3:25 p.m. and will be broadcast on CBS. Here are the top five storylines to watch.

Can Caleb Williams continue his steady growth?

Quarterback Caleb Williams had his best game of the season in Week 3 against the Dallas Cowboys. He put together season-high statistics, looked comfortable in the pocket and effectively ran Johnson’s offense.

Now Williams needs to show that he can stack good performances in back-to-back weeks and continue his development on the road. He’ll have a good environment to do it.

The Raiders secondary will likely give up open pockets for Williams to throw to just like the Cowboys did. Las Vegas has allowed the eighth-most passing yards per game (237) and the ninth-most total passing yards (711) after playing the New England Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers and Washington Commanders. If the Bears offensive line can keep the pocket mostly clean, Williams should get the ball to his playmakers.

The Bears could face a favorable crowd when they play at Allegiant Stadium (more on that later). That sets up a nice opportunity for Williams to continue his steady progression.

“I think he’s growing every week, but that expectation doesn’t really stop,” Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said this week. “He’s getting coached just as hard this week as he was last week when the outside noise maybe had been a little bit louder in a negative way. But the standard is the same and the process is the same. We still continue to expect him to prepare for this week and go out and play well on Sunday and have confidence to be able to go out and rip it and have confidence in the plan.”

Stopping Raiders’ rushing attack

Raiders rookie running back Ashton Jeanty was one of the top prospects heading into this year’s NFL draft. He was so highly thought of that the Bears were linked to potentially drafting him before the Raiders selected him sixth overall.

Through three weeks, though, Jeanty hasn’t had a strong start to his career. He’s averaged 48 rushing yards per game and 3.1 yards per carry. Jeanty ran for a season-high 63 yards on 17 carries against the Commanders in Week 3.

Johnson dismissed the slow start to Jeanty’s career. He compared it to his team’s slow rushing start and still believes Jeanty is a talented rusher.

“He’s a phenomenal player,” Johnson said. “I thought the world of him [ahead of the draft]. He’s a hard guy to bring down. Compact, yet powerful. You better have low pad level when you’re looking to tackle this guy or else he’s going to lower his shoulder and run you over. He has that mentality.”

The Bears will try to extend Jeanty’s slow start Sunday but will need their best performance of the year to do so. Chicago has allowed the sixth-most rushing yards per game (139.3) and the sixth-most total rushing yards (418). It hasn’t improved much from last season when the defense allowed the fifth-most rushing yards all year.

Although Johnson said the run defense’s numbers have been high, he did acknowledge each week’s game plan is different. Sometimes a defense is more focused on stopping elite receivers instead of stacking the box to stop the run. The Bears’ point of emphasis will likely be stopping Jeanty on Sunday.

Limiting Maxx Crosby’s impact

The Bears offensive line had a strong showing in Week 3 against the Cowboys. The unit didn’t allow a sack, a first for Williams in his career, and only allowed one quarterback hit.

It should be a tougher day Sunday when the Bears try to stop one of the NFL’s best pass rushers. Raiders edge Maxx Crosby is a four-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro who’d been dominant since the Raiders selected him in the fourth round in 2019 out of Eastern Michigan.

“He’s a top-five player in this league on defense and probably doesn’t get the recognition he deserves,” Johnson said. “He’s all over the place, relentless, high motor and you’ve got to account for him and know where he’s at every single snap or else he’ll get ya. He wrecks drives, that’s what he does.”

Crosby has proven that he’s recovered from an ankle injury that forced him to miss the final four games of last season and worth the three-year, $106.5 million contract he earned over the offseason. He has two sacks and four quarterback hits to go along with four tackles for loss.

The Bears offensive line won’t be fully healthy to stop Crosby and the rest of the Raiders pass rush. Starting right tackle Darnell Wright was ruled out for Sunday’s game with an elbow injury. Second-year player Theo Benedet could be an option after replacing Wright on Sunday against the Cowboys. Rookie Ozzy Trapilo could also get a look.

Getting the rushing attack to finally click

When the Bears rewatched the film from the Cowboys game, Johnson made sure the whole offense watched the running plays together. Johnson pointed out a few small things and the Bears players came away from the film sessions with a common takeaway.

“We’re close,” running back D’Andre Swift said. “We’re close.”

Chicago’s running attack hasn’t taken off yet. The Bears rank middle of the pack in both total rushing yards (340) and rushing yards per game (113.3). Swift hasn’t rushed for 100 yards in a game this season, his season-high 63 total came against the Detroit Lions in Week 2.

Like the Bears run defense, the Raiders’ could give Swift and the Bears a chance to finally put it all together. Las Vegas’ rush defense is middle of the pack just like the Bears’ running attack. The Raiders have given up 342 total rushing yards and 114 per game.

If the Bears can get the running game going early, that should open things up for Williams and the passing game.

Home crowd on the road?

The Bears will try to pick up their first road win of the season when they travel to Las Vegas. How much of a road game it will be remains to be seen.

Plenty of Bears fans are expected to travel for Sunday’s game. Las Vegas became the top NFL road trip destination when the Raiders moved there in 2020. Fans quickly bought up tickets and hotel prices went up once the NFL announced the schedule. Many West Coast Bears fans will likely want to make the short trip as well to see their team play.

“The standard is the same and the process is the same. We still continue to expect him to prepare for this week and go out and play well on Sunday and have confidence to be able to go out and rip it and have confidence in the plan.”

—  Declan Doyle, Bears offensive coordinator on Caleb Williams

That leads to question how much the Bears offense will need to use the silent count in order to combat crowd noise. The Bears operated it fairly well in Week 2 at a loud Ford Field when they play the Lions. Chicago will prepare for whatever it faces Sunday.

“You always have to be prepared for it to be loud wherever you go,” Doyle said. “You better be preparing for worst case scenario, ‘Hey, we can’t hear, we need to operate.’ Then within the game, if there needs to be an adjustment made, that usually happens during the game and you’re sitting there on the sideline, you’re like, ‘Hey, it’s not super loud in here. We can be verbal or we can change that.’ But you’ve got to go into the game preparing for it to be crazy.”