Three Bears players who need to have a good performance in the joint practice with the Bengals this week

The Chicago Bears have a critical week ahead at Halas Hall. Coming off another preseason victory, the Bears will return to the practice field on Tuesday and Wednesday before hosting a joint practice with the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday.

The two teams will then square off on Saturday. Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor already hinted on Monday that the Bengals starters will not appear in the game , saying that Thursday's practice will be sufficient and " harder than a game ." While Bears head coach Matt Eberflus hasn't spoken to the media since Saturday's post-game press conference, expect Chicago to follow a similar mindset with their starters.

That means Thursday's practice is going to be a critical one for the starters on both teams facing off against each other. While everyone will be focusing on Caleb Williams and Joe Burrow during the day, here are three Bears players who need to put together a good performance on Thursday.

Roschon Johnson

The Bears second-year back was absent from Saturday's game against the Buffalo Bills. During the team's final day of practice last week, Johnson did not practice , a sign that his availability during Saturday's game was injury related.

Johnson did play the week prior in the Hall of Fame Game against the Houston Texans, rushing for 24 yards on six carries. Johnson played 14 snaps in the game, including the majority of the snaps on the opening drive.

With Johnson out of the lineup on Saturday, Khalil Herbert took the majority of the snaps with the starting offense (although D'Andre Swift technically started) and remained as the primary back during the second drive. The Bears depth chart lists both Herbert and Johnson as the backups to Swift and after Herbert's game on Saturday, Johnson will need to get back on the field soon to fight for more touches.

Nate Davis

Speaking of getting back on the field, the availability of right guard Nate Davis is starting to be a concern. Eberflus noted that Davis suffered a setback with a soft-tissue injury that's forced him out of practice and out of the starting lineup.

Ryan Bates started at right guard in his place during the week, but was banged up on Thursday. Matt Pryor started at right guard with the rest of the first-team offense. Here's what Eberflus had to say about Davis' starting position.

"If a person is out for an extended period of time and a player that is in that position is playing really well, at a starter level, and doing a good job there, then you create the competition," Eberflus said last week. "Then you say hey there's a competition. People say well you can't lose the job due to injury. I don't think that's true. I think that if the guy that is playing there, you know, gives our team a good look and a good benefit of being in that position, then it's a competition or the other guy could take it over."

The Bears are paying Davis a lot of money to not be on the field, and would be paying him a lot of money to sit on the bench if Bates can take his starting spot. He needs to get back on the field this week and fight for his starting job before it's too late.

Gervon Dexter Sr.

Joint practices are usually the time for defensive linemen to burst onto the scene and frustrate opposing quarterbacks. Just look at the day New York Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams' had against the Carolina Panthers during joint practice on "Hard Knocks" last offseason.

I want to see Bears second-year defensive tackle Gervon Dexter make some "Hard Knocks" worthy disruptions against the Bengals on Thursday. Everyone's been raving over his transformation and potential on the Bears defensive line and I'm ready to see him really let loose this week at practice.

He's already been doing so against the Bears first-team offense during training camp. Not to mention his tackle for a loss and QB hit he had against the Bills this weekend .

Related: Chicago Bears 53-man roster and practice squad projection following the second preseason game