3 players who must step up for the Bears on Monday night

If the Chicago Bears want to escape San Diego with a win, a few players must step up with game-changing contributions against the Chargers on Monday night. A couple key reserves will be asked to help carry the load on offense, while the defense tries to find a way to slow down Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers and his passing attack.

The following are three Bears who must respond to the call in Week 9:

1. Jeremy Langford, running back

Chicago's do-it-all running back, Matt Forte, is out with a knee injury, so it's time for Jeremy Langford to make his debut at running back. Langford, a fourth-round pick out of Michigan State in this year's draft, has not seen a ton of playing time while backing up Forte. The rookie has only carried the ball 27 times for 80 yards through his first seven games, but he already has two NFL touchdowns under his belt. In order to fill Forte's role, Langford will need to really step up as a receiving target out of the backfield. He has caught just two passes as a professional.

2. Marquess Wilson, wide receiver

The Bears will also be without wide receiver Eddie Royal on Monday night, so Marquess Wilson needs to experience a bit of a resurgence in his place. Wilson has developed into a decent deep threat this season, as his average of 16.8 yards per catch is the highest on the team (min. 10 catches). What the Bears need to do is target him more often, since he only has 18 receptions on the season. If Wilson makes the Chargers respect him as a secondary target, No. 1 wideout Alshon Jeffery should benefit from the coverage adjustments that are bound to happen.

3. Adrian Amos, safety

Chicago's secondary hasn't been great this season, but Adrian Amos is a definite bright spot at safety. Amos, a fifth-round selection in this year's draft, rose up the ranks to claim a starting job and has since overtaken second-year cornerback Kyle Fuller as the most promising young member of the Bears' defensive backfield. Rivers averages more than 40 pass attempts per game, so the rookie safety should get plenty of opportunities to have his name called on one of the game's biggest stages.

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The Bears will be without star running back Matt Forte and wide receiver Eddie Royal for Monday night's game. Both sustained knee injuries during last week's game, and the team ruled them out as expected Saturday.

Philip Rivers is trying to remain positive as the San Diego Chargers' season spins out of control.

He really is. It's his nature.

There also comes a point where reality sets in. It sounds like Rivers — who's playing the best football of his career — is almost there.

A four-game losing streak has dropped the Chargers to 2-6 and Rivers has lost his top receiver, Keenan Allen, for the rest of the season with a lacerated kidney.

Now comes a Monday night game against the equally woeful Chicago Bears (2-5).

"I think you have to really, right now, just get excited about playing the Chicago Bears on 'Monday Night Football' and really think about nothing else than that," Rivers said.

"I've always said to the guys, if you told any of us when we were 10 years old, hey, you were going to play the Chicago Bears on 'Monday Night Football,' none of our first response would have been, 'What's our record going to be?' We just would have been fired up to be a part of it. So I think that's the best approach at this point."

That's what it's come to.

The Chargers are closer to the No. 1 draft pick than they are to the AFC West lead. The running game is going nowhere and the pass rush is stagnant.

The L.A. thing continues to hang over their heads, too, even though they keep saying that team chairman Dean Spanos' desire to move 120 miles up the freeway as early as next season is not a distraction.

Rivers is on pace to rewrite San Diego's season passing records, thanks to a five-game stretch in which he's thrown for 1,863 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Playing the rebuilding Bears could make things better. Chicago lost star running back Matt Forte and wide receiver Eddie Royal — who was with San Diego the last three years — to knee injuries in a loss to Minnesota last weekend.

Here are some things to look for when the Chargers host the Bears:

NO HARD FEELINGS: Rivers and Bears quarterback Jay Cutler say there are no lingering issues from a trash-talking episode on Christmas Eve 2007, when the Chargers routed Cutler's Denver Broncos. Rivers and then-Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips were seen jaw-jacking Cutler from the sideline.

"Shoot, I have no issues with Jay at all," Rivers said. "There will be a normal handshake, just like with all the other quarterbacks. There are really no hard feelings there whatsoever. There weren't really any even that night, or after. Obviously the hype that ensued kind of built it up. ... But you look back and go, 'That's crazy what was made of it.' In hindsight you wish it probably never happened, but it was certainly not the big deal that it turned into."

Said Cutler: "It was Christmas Eve and we were both battling for a playoff spot. ... It was just one of those things that stuck in people's minds. ... Over the years, I've gained a lot of respect for his game and the way that he plays. He's been a staple in the league for a long time and has put up huge numbers year in and year out. He's always fun to watch, always fun to play against."

HOME-FIELD BLUES: This could be the third straight home game in which the visiting team has had a significant cheering section. Tens of thousands of Steelers fans cheered Pittsburgh on to a last-second win on Oct. 12, and the usual horde of Raiders fans did the same on Oct. 25.

Are the Chargers ready for more of the same?

"Yeah. Yep. Certainly," Rivers said. "You appreciate the fans of ours. They're there. It's not their fault. I've always understood, even going years back, certain teams have bigger followings and if you had to pick a road game to go, San Diego would probably be the one I'd pick."

Rivers said it's "probably little shocking" to younger players used to supportive home crowds in college. "We've got to already have that in our head and not let that be a factor."

RUNNING ON EMPTY: Chargers running back Melvin Gordon, a first-round pick described by general manager Tom Telesco on draft day as "a home-run hitter," has yet to score a touchdown or have a 100-yard game. By comparison, LaDainian Tomlinson had eight touchdowns and three 100-yard games through his first eight games as a rookie in 2001.

BEARS BACKS: Chicago star Forte is out with a knee injury. Forte has mostly been a model of durability in his eight seasons. But now that he is unavailable, a bigger load falls to rookie Jeremy Langford.

"I feel comfortable," Langford said. "I've been doing a great job of preparing like I was the starter but still having that mindset that if anything happens I can go in there and not lose any slack or call out different plays because I'm in there."

COACHES CORNER: Bears first-year coach John Fox was boss of Chargers coach Mike McCoy at Carolina and Denver. Fox is 8-3 against the Chargers overall, including 4-1 against McCoy since he took over the Chargers. That includes Denver's playoff win against San Diego during the 2013 season.

The Bears (2-5) are coming off a 23-20 loss to Minnesota. The Chargers (2-6) were beaten by Baltimore 29-26 last week.