The Chicago Bears will head back on the road with something to prove. Chicago faces a big test when it travels to play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

The Bears have gained some momentum under head coach Ben Johnson after a 0-2 start to the season. They’ve won four straight games for the first time since 2018 and will now try to win five straight for the first time since 2018.

It won’t come easy, however. The Ravens (1-5) are better than their record indicates and are expecting the return of a few injured players. The Bears (4-2) will need their best game of the season to pick the road win.

Sunday afternoon’s game kicks off at noon on CBS. Here are the top five storylines.

Will Caleb Williams have a rebound game?

Quarterback Caleb Williams’ first season with Johnson as his play caller has had expected highs and lows. He’ll try to reverse the trajectory back upward Sunday.

Williams helped the Bears start their winning streak when he threw a season-high four touchdown passes against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3 and then led game-winning drives against the Las Vegas Raiders and Washington Commanders, respectively. But Williams and the passing game couldn’t find a rhythm against the New Orleans Saints in Week 7.

The Bears and Williams will face a tough test finding that rhythm against a talented Ravens secondary. Pro Bowl safety Kyle Hamilton battled a groin injury but should play in his second straight game, along with Malaki Starks. Marlon Humphrey is an All-Pro cornerback and is expected to play despite battling an illness.

But Williams said the Bears were “extremely close” to finding their rhythm.

“When you have all of that start to hit and click a lot of times it’s just the base things,” Williams said. “It’s not even the scheme or anything. You do those things, you can positively affect the team on the ground. I think we’ve done a good job with that the past two weeks since the bye week.”

Limiting Derrick Henry

The Bears seemed to figure some things out with their run defense coming out of the bye a couple of weeks ago. They’ll need to keep that up if they want to stop Ravens running back Derrick Henry.

Chicago started to turn the corner when it limited Washington to 124 rushing yards. Teams had averaged 164.5 rushing yards against Chicago in the first four games of the season. Then the Bears put together their season-best showing last week against the Saints when they held New Orleans to 44 rushing yards.

Henry will present a different running back pedigree than the Bears have played this season. The four-time All-Pro has had mixed results since rushing for 169 yards against the Buffalo Bills in their season-opener. But Henry looked like his old self before the bye, rushing for 122 yards against the Los Angeles Rams.

Bears safety Kevin Byard used to practice with Henry when the two played for the Tennessee Titans. He offered some advice on how to slow him down.

“Don’t go high, I’ll tell you that,” Byard said. “I’ve been on the sideline and watching that guy stiff-arm everybody into the dirt. He’s a future Hall-of-Famer, really good friend of his. But yeah, it’s gonna be a challenge.”

Planning for Lamar Jackson

The biggest question this week was whether Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson would return from a hamstring injury. After a week of will-he-or-won’t-he, it appears the Bears will have to find ways to stop Jackson as he was listed as questionable for Sunday.

Jackson should make his return after he missed the Ravens’ past two games because of a hamstring injury he suffered in Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs. There were questions of whether Jackson could’ve returned earlier, but the Ravens used the bye week to give Jackson extra time to get healthy.

Before the injury, Jackson played at his usual most valuable player level. Jackson averaged 217.3 passing yards per game and threw 10 touchdowns to go along with his 41.5 rushing yards per game.

The Bears prepped all week as if Jackson would play. But Chicago will be without key members of its secondary, including cornerbacks Tyrique Stevenson and Kyler Gordon. Although it’s unclear how close to 100% Jackson will be, the Bears know they can’t focus on one aspect of his game or he’ll hurt you with the other.

“It’ll be a challenge for us in terms of how we have to rush him,” defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said. “Not only how we have to play him from a passing game standpoint, but how we have to play him in the run game. There’s a lot to contest with there.”

Can the Bears run it back again?

Chicago will have a chance to keep its recent running success going when it plays Baltimore.

The Bears built upon their best rushing showing by putting together another against the Saints. Lead running back D’Andre Swift had his second consecutive season-high rushing total, while rookie Kyle Monangai put together his highest career rushing total.

If there’s a weakness in the Ravens’ defense, it might be the rush defense. Teams have rushed for an average of 134.3 yards per game against Baltimore, though the Ravens did limit the Rams to 74 rushing yards, the fewest they allowed this season.

Chicago will try to stay with what’s worked over the past two weeks.

“They’re communicating well, and obviously that’s showing up in the backs,” offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said. “I think the three backs ran very hard, and they’ve done a good job of kind of bringing to life the things that we’ve been, really preaching at nauseum, since the beginning of the season and since we got here.”

Facing Roquan Smith

The Bears will see a familiar face when they play the Ravens.

Sunday will be the first time Chicago will play linebacker Roquan Smith since Bears general manager Ryan Poles traded him to Baltimore in 2022. Poles, who was in his first season with the team at the start of a rebuild, sent Smith to the Ravens in exchange for second- and fifth-round picks along with a player.

“When you have all of that start to hit and click a lot of times it’s just the base things. It’s not even the scheme or anything. You do those things you can positively affect the team on the ground. I think we’ve done a good job with that the past two weeks since the bye week.”

—  Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears quarterback

The former first-round pick has lived up to his talent, earning three straight All-Pro honors with the Ravens. He’ll be tough to avoid offensively as he comes back from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the past two games.

“He is fast,” Johnson said. “I think that’s what stands out. He diagnoses quickly: See ball, get ball, sideline to sideline. If our offensive linemen’s responsible for him in the running game, we’ve gotta be on our horse because he’s fast and then he finds a way to shed, he finds a way to get around blocks to be around the football. We’re going to have to do our best to cover him up.”