With the Bears struggling on offense, it’s fair to wonder: Is Caleb Williams’ development in good hands?

INDIANAPOLIS — Fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. It’s time to use one of your best, go-to plays. It’s time to call a play that you’re 99.99 percent certain will result in a touchdown.

What did offensive coordinator Shane Waldron predict for the Chicago Bears against the Indianapolis Colts in that second quarter situation on Sunday?

A speedy option on the left side with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and running back D’Andre Swift.

Seriously. That’s what Waldron sent in for Williams after running back Khalil Herbert had made three straight runs from the shotgun, bringing the Bears to within inches of scoring from the Colts’ 4-yard line.

“It’s a game we’ve practiced,” tight end Cole Kmet said after the Bears’ 21-16 loss to the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“We wanted a certain look. I don’t know if we got the look we wanted. So that’s something I have to look at. I can’t really say for sure what was in it. But we wanted a certain look that they showed on film on the goal line and you have to give them credit, they played it well.”

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We’ll dive deeper into that “look” in a moment. But the more you watch the Bears struggle on offense, the more you wonder if Williams’ development is in good hands with Waldron.

Williams threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns and two interceptions. Rookie receiver Rome Odunze made six catches for 112 yards and a touchdown, while Kmet made 10 receptions for 97 yards and a score.

Williams showed signs of development, but more questions arose, starting with: Why did you use the fourth-and-goal option from the 1? Waldron won’t meet with the media until his regular window on Thursday at Halas Hall, allowing Williams, Kmet, Swift and coach Matt Eberflus to talk about it.

“That was a tough one, because we were standing there on the inch-yard line or something, the 1-yard line, and we didn’t get it,” said Williams, who completed 33 of 52 passes. “It’s a play we practiced all week, because we knew that when they get to the 5-yard line to the 1-yard line, their defense changes and they get into those 6-1 defenses and stuff like that. Normally they crash (the defensive ends).

“I think maybe I didn’t get to the rim quick enough or whatever the case may have been. But they didn’t crash like they normally do or like we saw on film. They made a good play. They had an extra player hanging over there and maybe that was because of the pistol (formation) or whatever the case may have been.”

Instead of a 6-1 look, the Colts had two linebackers and five defensive linemen. The extra “overhang player” was linebacker Zaire Franklin. Defensive end Tyquan Lewis didn’t crash into Williams as the Bears predicted.

Franklin, however, was the one who made the difference. Williams threw the ball from the 5-yard line back to Swift at the 8. Franklin remained unblocked and drove Swift past the 10-yard line, where Lewis eventually stopped him for a loss of 12 yards on a play less than a yard from the end zone.

“It was called,” Swift said. “It’s up to us to make it happen. Look what I could have done differently to make it happen.”

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It was the Bears’ worst play during a first half in which they ran 49 plays of offense but scored zero points. It raised more questions and concerns about Waldron’s play calling, but also his game planning, as every player asked about it said they had practiced the option play a lot last week.

The entire sequence for the Bears from the 4-yard line felt baffling. Why did Herbert Roschon replace Johnson after Johnson had fought for a 1-yard gain on fourth-and-1 from the 5 to put the Bears in that scoring situation? Why didn’t the Bears just go under center for three straight runs to Herbert, including a wildcat run?

And why is it still so incredibly difficult for the Bears to run the ball, even against the Colts, who allowed 261 rushing yards to the Green Bay Packers last week?

On fourth-and-goal, Williams said he had the option to change the option play, but the Bears broke the huddle with 10 seconds left. The ball was then snapped with five seconds left, according to the broadcast.

“I didn’t want to go out there and call the play or change the play … with about five (seconds) or so or when everybody was ready,” Williams said. “At that point, you’ve got to call it and execute it and go.”

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Williams said he might have changed the play if he had more time. This only leads to more questions about the Bears’ offensive process. Why are seemingly late play calls becoming a trend?

“We liked the game,” Eberflus said. “We just had to get to the second level, get to the linebacker there, zone to him and get him there. We’d pitch from the end man on the line of scrimmage. We had to execute better.”

For Williams it was not a rookie moment, but a bad moment for the whole attack. It started with Waldron’s decision to end the match.

Another was a coaching blunder. The Bears sent out their field goal unit after their first touchdown, called a timeout and then failed to convert on a two-point drive. The plan should have been in place long before Williams hit Odunze for the first NFL touchdown of their careers.

“We’ve got to be better there,” Eberflus said. “That’s the coaches’ responsibility. We’ve got to be better there, top to bottom, top to bottom. So we’ve got to do a better job there.”

There should be a lot on the Bears coaches right now. It was a messy game on Sunday, but a lot of that mess was of their own making.

“We’re going to keep throwing it. We’re going to keep working on the run game,” Williams said. “And we’re definitely going to keep getting better as an offense. We’re going to get this going quickly here.”

(Photo: Michael Hickey/Getty Images)