The Chicago Bears will go back on the road after their bye week for a marquee matchup Monday night.

There are plenty of interesting plotlines as the Bears return to Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, to play the Washington Commanders.

Bears head coach Ben Johnson will play the Commanders after they eliminated his Detroit Lions in the playoffs last season. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and Commanders QB Jayden Daniels, the top two picks in the 2024 draft, will face off once again. And of course, there’s last season’s game that ended in a last-second Hail Mary.

But Monday will be a big prove-it moment for Williams and the Bears (2-2). The Commanders (3-2) are a contender in the NFC once again, which sets up an opportunity for Chicago to show whether it can take a major step after its Week 5 bye.

Monday night’s game kicks off at 7:15 p.m. and will be broadcast on ABC. Here are the top five storylines to watch.

Caleb Williams vs. Jayden Daniels

Fans have debated whether the Bears should’ve selected Williams or Daniels with the No. 1 overall pick last year pretty much since last season started. That’s likely to continue after Monday’s latest matchup between the two.

The two quarterbacks have been compared to each other for better or for worse. Williams had a historic rookie season for the Bears that was marred by a 5-12 record and a head coach firing. Daniels took the NFL by storm, won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and helped lead the Commanders to the NFC Championship game.

Although the quarterbacks won’t actually go against each other on the field, having the other watching on the sideline will make for an easy comparison. Williams, who was born in Washington D.C. and starred at Gonzaga College High School in D.C., will have a chance to come back home and prove in front of a national audience that he was the rightful No. 1 pick. Daniels will try to show once again that he should’ve been No. 1.

Regardless, both have displayed a quality that Johnson said made them, and their 2024 quarterback classmates, special. They know how to show up in big moments and put their team in a position to win.

“Caleb, obviously, felt highly about him, part of the reason why I wanted to come here, and I haven’t been disappointed with him whatsoever,” Johnson said. “He continues to get better, elite arm strength, the ability to extend plays. I don’t think a whole lot differently for Jayden. Jayden is an extremely accurate thrower of the football, something that I think gets overlooked when you look at him because he is so dynamic with his legs, and he hurts teams so much on the ground as well.”

Limiting the Commanders’ dynamic running attack

While the spotlight will be on the quarterbacks, the Bears can’t overlook the Commanders’ running attack, especially Daniels.

Washington entered the weekend averaging an NFL-high 156.4 rushing yards per game and led the league with 782 total rushing yards. At the heart of the Commanders’ running attacking is seventh-round rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt, who’s rushed for 283 yards and four touchdowns. Daniel himself has rushed for 124 yards in three games.

How the Bears will stop that running attack will be a major concern for defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. Chicago has allowed the second-most rushing yards per game (164.5) and the 10th-most total rushing yards (658) despite playing four games.

Allen said Daniels makes it such an effective rushing attack because of his ability to run with the ball. Defenses can’t just isolate on the running back. The Bears will need to focus on fundamentals, completing tackles in space and shedding blocks, in order to slow down Washington.

“I think their running backs run extremely well,” Allen said. “I think they’ve got great vision. I think they are able to find the seams in the defense. They get vertical within the defense and they run really hard. So, this is obviously a very good running team and that will be a big part of the game plan I would assume.”

Protecting Caleb Williams

The Bears will have a new starting tackle and return another starter Monday. Johnson named Theo Benedet the starting left tackle, replacing Braxton Jones, while starting right tackle Darnell Wright is expected to return after missing a game because of an elbow injury.

Williams and the offensive line have done a better job of avoiding sacks a year after Williams was sacked a team-record 68 times last season. He’s been sacked seven times this season, which ranks tied for 26th in the NFL.

But the Commanders will likely be one of the tougher and bigger pass rushes the Bears will face this season. Washington is tied for third with 15 sacks and has blitzed 27.1% of its snaps, which ranks 10th. Commanders defensive end Dorance Armstrong is tied for fourth in the NFL in sacks (five) while linebacker Von Miller is tied for 20th (three).

“I think it’s a really good front,” Bears offensive line coach Dan Roushar said. “I think they’ve really good take off. The two inside guys are playing at a really high level. [Linebacker] Frankie [Luvu] gives them a pressure player that’s very disruptive. They’re going to be a great challenge for us and I think our guys are excited to go work against them.”

Ben Johnson vs. Dan Quinn

Monday’s matchup will be another opportunity for Johnson to coach against an experienced head coach. Commanders head coach Dan Quinn won a Super Bowl as the defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks and reached another Super Bowl as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

Johnson had mixed results the last time he matched up against Quinn, who doesn’t call defensive plays with the Commanders. The Lions scored 31 points against the Commanders in the divisional round of last year’s playoffs. But Detroit also turned the ball over five times in the 45-31 loss.

Quinn did limit Johnson’s offense more when he was the defensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys. Johnson’s Lions scored 19 points against the Cowboys in 2023 and six in 2022.

“Man, you need to play complementary football to beat this team,” Johnson said. “This is a really good football team. I think Quinn is an outstanding coach. He has been whether it was Atlanta or Washington now, it really doesn’t matter. He’s fielded good teams. These guys play hard. They play inspired football.”

Moving on from last year

There’s little doubt that the ending of last year’s game will come up at least a few times Monday. Especially leading up to and during the national broadcast.

The last-second loss off a Hail Mary to the Commanders changed the trajectory of the Bears’ season. Instead of moving on to 5-2 with a win, Chicago went on to lose 10 straight games and fired former head coach Matt Eberflus during the season, a first for the century-old franchise.

“Caleb, obviously, felt highly about him, part of the reason why I wanted to come here, and I haven’t been disappointed with him whatsoever. He continues to get better, elite arm strength, the ability to extend plays. I don’t think a whole lot differently for Jayden. Jayden is an extremely accurate throw over the football, something that I think gets overlooked when you look at him because he is so dynamic with his legs, and he hurts teams so much on the ground as well.”

—  Ben Johnson, Bears head coach

But not many Bears wanted to lament on the loss. Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson moved on from the incident over the offseason and Johnson hasn’t felt the need to talk about it with the team since his he wasn’t with the Bears when it happened.

There seems to be an understanding amongst the players heading into Monday.

“I think everybody’s just on the hush now,” wide receiver DJ Moore said, “and just ready to attack this game and not let that happen again.”