Opportunity knocking for Bears in Vegas — will they answer?

The Bears' collapse last season was so complete and so tumultuous — with 10 consecutive losses following the bye week leading to a 5-12 season — it seems like the demise of Matt Eberflus and his coaching staff was inevitable. That yet another galling Bears season led to the Bears hiring Ben Johnson makes it seem even more like a good thing than a bad one.

But that also makes it easy to forget just how much the Bears' season turned on that fateful Hail Mary touchdown pass from Jayden Daniels to Noah Brown in the loss to the Commanders. Had the Bears successfully defended Daniels' desperation pass on the final play, the Bears would have been 6-2 — with four consecutive victories and a defense that ranked fourth in the NFL in points allowed (16.1 per game) and 10th in yards allowed (311.6).

With the 4-4 Cardinals on the road and the 2-6 Patriots at Soldier Field coming up, the Bears had a good chance to be 8-2 heading into divisional games against the Packers and Vikings at Soldier Field — games, as it turned out, that the Bears could have won or should have won even in the miserable state they ended up being in.

Most Bears fans are probably happy the way things turned out, with Caleb Williams and Johnson's offense taking the next step after an encouraging performance against the Cowboys being the story instead of Shane Waldron's reunion with Geno Smith.

But regardless, these Bears face a similar opportunity heading into Sunday's game against the 1-2 Raiders — a winnable road game against a chronically struggling team with a new coach and in a venue that could be as much of a Bears crowd as a Raiders crowd.

The schedule that looked daunting on paper to start the season has opened up a bit for the Bears. Including the Raiders, the Bears' next six opponents are a combined 6-12. Even the bye week that seemed too early is more convenient than expected with right tackle Darnell Wright, tight end Colston Loveland, linebacker T.J. Edwards and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett battling injuries.

And following the bye the Bears will have five consecutive games that look more winnable now than they did when the schedule was released:

• Oct. .13 at the Commanders (2-1) on 14 days rest on Monday Night Football in a game that figures to have many Bears particularly inspired to atone for the devastating defeat a year ago — whether they'll admit it or not.

• Oct. 20 at home against the Saints (0-3), who are struggling to get their footing under first-year coach Kellen Moore.

• Oct. 26 at the Ravens, who while still formidable, are having similar early defensive issues they had last season — 26th in scoring defense and 25th in yards in the first three games. And just put Pro Bowl defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike on injured reserve with a neck injury.

• Nov. 2 at the Bengals — who will be without injured quarterback Joe Burrow.

• Nov. 9 at the Giants — currently 0-3, and with rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart likely starting.

Then it's a rematch with the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium and the Steelers at Soldier Field before back-to-back road games against the Eagles and Packers.

There's no telling what the Bears will look like when they get to those games. They figure to be heading in the right direction no matter how herky-jerky the season goes. But Sunday's game against the Raiders will provide a good look at how quickly they'll get to where they're going, and just how prepared they are to take care of business. Will they stumble their way forward, like Lovie Smith's first team in 2004? Or will they grow up quickly, like Lovie's second team in 2005 with an eight-game winning streak following Mike Brown's "It's like we suck" moment?

With the way things have been going, it's more likely the former than the latter. But with Johnson at the controls, the Bears can take off at any time.

---