The Bears will play the second of three straight prime-time games Monday night when they battle the reigning Super Bowl champion Seahawks in Seattle.

After winning the NFC North last season, the Bears were rewarded with seven "standalone" nationally televised games this year — five at night in addition to afternoon contests on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

"I often tell my guys, 'Man, we're the best in the world: BIW,'" said quarterback Caleb Williams. "And so, [with] that mindset, you have to hold yourself to a certain standard, and that's what these prime-time games are. They're the league seeing us as one of those teams that's the best in NFL.

"We want to go out there and prove ourselves each and every week; doesn't matter if it's prime time or not. But in that sense of it being prime time, I mean, that's what the league wants for us. That's what we want for ourselves. I think we've shown that from last year to this year, and we want to keep chugging along."

Second-year tight end Colston Loveland also embraces playing in the national spotlight.

"It means a lot," he said. "We kind of knew this is what it was going to be. We've got a lot of talented players, a lot of talented coaches and a lot of people that want to watch us go out and play, and there's no other time we would want to play rather than prime time. It's on the biggest stage — everyone watching — and [if] you make plays in prime-time games, you become a legend. It's pretty cool. I think Caleb, coach [Ben] Johnson, everybody just thrives off of that big-game energy."

Steady Eddie

The Bears defense will be bolstered Monday night by the return of veteran end Montez Sweat, who has been reinstated by the NFL after serving a two-game suspension. Starting the first five games of the season, he recorded seven tackles and 2.0 sacks.

"He's been kind of a 'Steady Eddie' guy for us through these first five games with him," Johnson said. "He has been able to hold down the fort in terms of the running game. And then, the pass numbers probably aren't quite as high.

"We'll continue to challenge him; how much more can we affect the passer when he does get one-on-one situations. I know there are a number of times, when you're perceived as the No. 1 pass rusher on your team, they're sliding the protection your way or getting all the chips and the nudges, so that does take a toll."

With Sweat sitting out back-to-back wins over the Falcons and Patriots, fourth-year defensive end Daniel Hardy made the most of expanded playing time, registering 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits.

"[Hardy] has done as good a job as anybody affecting the passer these last two weeks," Johnson said. "He's a guy who certainly warrants a little bit more playing time on defense as well. So, when you combine [Austin] Booker's impact in getting to the quarterback combined with Hardy, the pressure package that 'DA' (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen) likes to put in there, hopefully we can get 'Tez singled up a little bit more for one-on-one to where his pass rush ability can come to the forefront."

On track

Johnson provided an update on safety Coby Bryant, who continues to recover from knee surgery he had in early August after getting hurt in training camp.

"In the near future here we're going to start with some on-land running," Johnson said. "But we're still a little ways away from him doing the change-of-direction stuff. That's really going to be the stress test with him, is being able to really push down on that knee and change direction at a high velocity, so that's still a little ways away."

The Bears said in August that Bryant was expected to miss 4-to-6 months, sidelining him until at least mid-December.

Asked Wednesday about the timeline for the injured safety to return, Johnson said: "I think we're going to keep that vague at the moment. From what I understand, he's right on track. He's working his tail off. Love seeing him in the building. He's around these guys all the time. And really, over the next month, that'll go a long way to see whether we can get him back this year or not."

Bryant signed a three-year contract with the Bears in March after spending his first four NFL seasons with the Seahawks, appearing in 58 games with 34 starts and recording 227 tackles, nine tackles-for-loss, seven interceptions, 17 pass breakups and seven forced fumbles.

All seven of Bryant's interceptions came in the last two seasons after he switched from cornerback to safety. Last year, he established career highs with four picks and seven pass breakups, helping Seattle win the Super Bowl.

Constant dialogue

With the NFL trade deadline looming Nov. 10, Johnson regularly speaks to general manager Ryan Poles about potential personnel upgrades.

"That's certainly Ryan's domain, and yet we have constant dialogue of what this team needs and where we can impact ourselves not just this year but years in the future as well," Johnson said. "So, he's turning over every stone that he possibly can to improve this football team just like he has ever since I've gotten in this building. Feel really good about our process and we'll see what happens, never know."