The Bears must tackle their second straight road test Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium against an Indianapolis Colts team hungry for its first win of the year.

The Bears (1-1) are coming off a disappointing loss to the Texans in Houston on “Sunday Night Football.” The Colts have started 0-2, losing in Week 1 to the Texans and on Sunday to the Green Bay Packers.

As kickoff approaches, here’s our snapshot look at the game.

Players in the spotlight

D’Andre Swift and Jonathan Taylor

Rrookie quarterback Caleb Williams is always in the spotlight, of course, but the buzz this week is about how the Bears could get their ground game going against a Colts defense that has been terrible against the run.

The Packers, with backup quarterback Malik Willis filling in for Jordan Love, gashed the Colts for 261 rushing yards in a 16-10 victory Sunday, including 151 yards from running back Josh Jacobs. The Colts also put defensive tackle DeForest Buckner on injured reserve this week.

It’s a weakness the Bears obviously hope to exploit behind Swift, who has only managed 48 rushing yards on 24 carries behind major line issues.

“Run game comes down to the basics,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “It just comes down to detail. It comes down to us being consistent as a group to be able to get that done. We’ve got the guys, we’ve got the coaches, we’ve got the players. We’ve just got to be better at the details, be better at the fundamentals of running the ball.”

Taylor has been in the news in Indianapolis this week after he totaled 12 carries for 103 yards against the Packers — 8.6 yards per carry — but then didn’t play in the fourth quarter. Coach Shane Steichen told reporters the emphasis on the passing game with the Colts playing from behind influenced his personnel decisions.

Taylor wasn’t nearly as productive in Week 1, totaling 48 rushing yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. But the Bears still are well aware that stopping the fifth-year veteran — who rushed for 1,811 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2021 — is paramount.

“In my opinion, this offense starts with him,” defensive coordinator Eric Washington said. “As one of the featured, most productive runners that we’ve seen in the last couple of years. Attempts, yards, he’s everything that you look for in a featured back. We’ve got to do a really good job of maintaining our discipline as far as our gaps are concerned and our run fits. We’ve just got to do a good job of working together and making sure that we keep him in front of us with respect to our assignments.”

Pressing question

Is Caleb Williams’ breakout game on the horizon? Williams said Wednesday that he believes the run game is on the verge of clicking. The hope, then, is that eases some of the stress on Williams and allows him to get into more of a groove in the passing game than he was able to find when he was constantly fleeing Texans pressure in a seven-sack night.

The Bears offense ranks 31st in yards per game (176.5) and last in yards per play (2.97). Their passing attack is also last in the league with 99 yards per game and 3 per play. The Bears have scored just one offensive touchdown. And big plays so far have been nearly nonexistent.

Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron said the Bears are not necessarily chasing the explosive plays but “letting that happen naturally within the flow of the game and trusting in the process, trusting in the preparation for those moments to happen.”

Wide receiver Rome Odunze said he believes the film shows they’re close to clicking on such plays, and he knows Williams can’t wait for it.

“He’s starving for it,” Odunze said. “That’s something I look to and the team looks to as a whole for inspiration. That hunger, that’s what you want when your side of the ball is having that struggle — everybody on our side of the ball to be very urgent to get things right.”

As the offense looks to put it together, Waldron said he is looking for the Bears to avoid negative plays, to be efficient and to eliminate presnap penalties. Waldron also praised Williams’ attitude toward growth as he gains experience.

“Each day he comes into work ready to learn, ready to continue,” Waldron said. “You’re going to see different blitz patterns, you’re going to see different front structures, you’re going to see game plan elements every single week. And for him the more reps he gets, the more times he sees it in those game scenarios, the better he’s going to continue to get every single week.”

Keep an eye on …

The Bears’ takeaway numbers

Another blueprint from the Colts-Packers game the Bears wouldn’t mind following Sunday? Forcing quarterback Anthony Richardson into turnovers.

Richardson threw three interceptions against the Packers. The Colts also fumbled three times, two by Richardson, but didn’t lose any.

That doesn’t mean the Bears don’t have challenges ahead against the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Richardson, who Washington said has “excellent speed, size,” and a receivers group that includes Michael Pittman and Alec Pierce. Richardson has thrown for 416 yards, with passes of 60, 57 and 54 yards against the Texans. And he has run for another 93 yards — on just 10 carries.

“We have to be exceptionally detailed with our assignments, especially when they start to utilize him as a second runner with some of the option things you’ll see,” Washington said. “And it’s similar to last week (against C.J. Stroud), when we can’t allow him to extend plays. Especially when we do a good job of connecting with our coverage, we’ve got to make sure he stays in the pocket and we can force him to throw the ball away or at best get him down.”

The Bears managed only one takeaway in the loss to the Texans, but it was a big one late in the fourth quarter. Defensive tackle Andrew Billings forced Cam Akers to fumble and Kevin Byard recovered it at the Bears 3-yard line, keeping the chance at a comeback alive.

Washington praised Billings’ technique on the tackle and called the play “outstanding.” Now the Bears will look for more.

“We try to be opportunistic every week,” Washington said. “With every quarterback that we face we want to speed him up or force him away from his rhythm or the rhythm of that particular play and hopefully to get some throws that are errant, that are off target. And really when those opportunities present themselves we’ve got to catch the football.”

Working up a Sweat

Defensive end Montez Sweat of course wants elevated sack numbers.

“But as long as we’re performing well as a defense, I think everything else will fall into place,” Sweat said Thursday at Halas Hall.

Through two games, Sweat doesn’t have a sack, quarterback hit or tackle for a loss, with opponent double teams factoring into the stat line.

“It is what it is, a part of the game,” Sweat said of the double teams. “I’d double me too. We’ve got to do what we do.”

The Bears do have six sacks, though, including two each from fellow defensive linemen Darrell Taylor and Gervon Dexter. Washington believes Sweat is helping create plays for teammates — and he will get his soon.

“He has the talent and the mindset and the intelligence to get there,” Washington said. “There are things that are obvious, sacks, hits, those types of things, and sometimes there are things that are obvious to us. And what I’m looking at with Montez is how he is factoring on certain plays.

“There have been plays that have been made by Gervon where Montez was a major if not primary factor on that particular play. So, it’s just a matter of time. He knows how to get to the quarterback and to end the play with a sack fumble, and so those things will happen for him and they will happen in bunches.”

Injury report

Bears wide receiver Keenan Allen will miss his second straight game with an ongoing heel injury that has bothered him since training camp.

Eberflus said Allen’s heel is getting better, but he won’t travel with the Bears to Indianapolis for personal reasons. His continued absence is a blow to a Bears offense that was going to feature him heavily along with DJ Moore.

“For us as an offense, DeAndre (Carter) has stepped right in there and played,” Waldron said. “We know we want Keenan out there and know he’ll get out there as soon as he’s physically able. You have to adjust and adapt and overcome every single week. It’s not always going to be the same personnel available every week in this league and that’s where we have to rely on all of our guys. We have great trust in our guys to step up and keep playing.”

The Bears also declared out fullback Khari Blasingame (hand/knee), defensive tackle Zacch Pickens (groin) and running back Travis Homer (finger). Eberflus said Homer had surgery on his finger and will go on injured reserve.

Right guard Nate Davis is questionable with a groin injury, an issue from training camp that he tweaked this week. Eberflus said the Bears were “super excited” to see 6-foot-7, 332-pound newcomer Matt Pryor, whom he called “a large human being” and one of their most improved linemen, either as a replacement or a rotation piece should Davis not play.

Left guard Teven Jenkins is good to go after he sat out Wednesday with a deep thigh bruise.

Odunze, who played against the Texans after spraining his knee, practiced in full Friday and is expected to play. He said he was sore after Sunday’s game and is still taping the knee but is ready to go.

Eberfus said Odunze has displayed “mental and physical toughness” in battling the injury.

“To be able to go out there and do what he did — he basically played every snap, for the most part — and then he came back the next week and kept working,” Eberflus said.

“He’s going to start making some big plays for us. As we saw, toughness.”

For the Colts, wide receiver Michael Pittman (back/calf) and defensive end Laiatu Latu (hip) are questionable.