A high-school play call by offensive coordinator Shane Waldron leads to a Bears loss to the Colts

One of the tricks of the trade in live TV game coverage is the slow-motion closeup of someone whose team is behind.

A quarterback’s simple blink in slo-mo looks like a man in emotional crisis. A linebacker asking for water looks like he’s howling, “Nooooooooo!!!’’ Had he just witnessed a plane crash? Quite possibly.

Sunday’s Bears-Colts game was so bad, so unspeakably awful in terms of execution and entertainment value that slow-motion deception wasn’t necessary. In real time, it was the NFL version of “The Scream.’’ The artist wasn’t Edvard Munch. It was Shane Waldron & Co.

The Bears offensive coordinator played a huge role in his team’s 21-16 loss. For reasons that defy logical explanation, he called an option run when the Bears had a fourth-and-1 at the Colts’ 1 in the second quarter. These being the Bears and this being a Bears offensive coordinator, it ended in a 12-yard loss. Caleb Williams rolled left on the play and pitched the ball to D’Andre Swift, who at that moment had about as much chance of getting into the end zone as he did of getting into Harvard. The Colts were on him like sweat.

“(Colts linemen) didn’t crash like they normally did, like we saw on tape,’’ Williams said.

“I tried to make something happen,’’ Swift said. “It just wasn’t there.’’

It wasn’t there, thanks to a high-school play that rarely works in the NFL. It wasn’t there, thanks to an offensive line in over its head. The Bears rushed 28 times for a measly 63 yards. The Colts had given up a combined 474 rushing yards in their previous two games. Williams threw 52 passes Sunday. That’s not a plan. That’s a recipe for a loss.

If you went looking for answers after the game on just about anything from coach Matt Eberflus, you were on a fool’s errand. You heard things like, “We have to be better,’’ “We have to do a better job there’’ and, “We have to execute better on offensive, defense and special teams.’’

Williams threw the first two touchdown passes of his career. He threw for 363 yards and averaged seven yards an attempt. All of it good. But he also had two interceptions. One of them led to an Indianapolis touchdown.

The interceptions led to my personal favorite postgame coach-speak moment from Eberflus.

“We’ve got to honor the ball,’’ he said.

One pictures robed men solemnly chanting around a mystical pigskin.

All in all, Eberflus was very upbeat for the coach of a 1-2 team that had much bigger ideas for the start of the season. He wasn’t alone in his optimism.

Williams: “The offensive identity is brewing.’’

Williams again: “I think we’re right there.’’

Much of Sunday’s happy talk sounded like it was coming from coaches and quarterbacks of Bears teams past. And this game looked like the kind of bad loss Bears fans have witnessed for decades. Late in the third quarter, the defense stopped the Colts for a three-and-out. But on fourth-and-2 on the ensuing punt, the Bears’ Daniel Hardy was called for a neutral-zone infraction. Indianapolis took advantage of the new life a first down offered and marched down the field for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead.

Is that the kind of user error the Bears are famous for or what?

Lest there be any doubt about how bad this loss was, I feel compelled to remind you that the Colts aren’t what many people would describe as … I believe the word is “good.’’ Indianapolis quarterback Anthony Richardson finished with a passer rating of 39.0, thanks, in part, to two interceptions. And his team still won.

Williams has a chance to be really good. But he’s only going to have that chance if he has an offensive line that can keep him safe (he was sacked four times) and an offensive coordinator who knows how to put him in the best position to succeed. Before the season, Bears general manager Ryan Poles said the line had a chance to be special. This line? When?

In good news, Williams finished with all those passing yards despite not looking particularly impressive. That sentence fits in well with what the Bears were trying to sell after the game.

Eberflus preferred to look for shafts of sun amid the darkness. He said he and his team found them.

“We are encouraged in that locker room,’’ he said.

If so, that’s not a locker room. That’s a cheerleading convention.