INDIANAPOLIS – Caleb Williams had an opening statement in his postgame press conference that perfectly described how the Bears felt after falling 21-17 to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“I’m definitely feeling the loss,” Williams said. “It sucks every single time. It never gets easier. It never gets better.”

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This loss in particular stung because there were so many ways to win. While the offense is still a work in progress and remains the largest problem spot, there were some issues in all three phases that contributed to this Week 3 defeat.

The offense turned the ball over three times, including once deep in Bears territory. That sum doesn’t include a turnover on downs, when the Bears couldn’t punch it in with four rushing attempts inside the Indianapolis 5-yard line late in the first half. They also only got three points after a Jaylon Johnson interception around midfield. In a close game, all those moments matter.

Special teams created what we’ll call a virtual turnover, when Daniel Hardy was called for a neutral zone infraction after a defensive stop, extending a drive where the Colts would eventually score.

While the defense still played well and had two picks, the unit allowed some explosive pass plays and Jonathan Taylor had 110 yards and two touchdowns.

That led veteran and Bears captain Kevin Byard III to reach a logical conclusion.

“We’re not playing complementary football, especially on the road,” he said. “That’s the way you win this league. It’s like in basketball, where you have to get on a run, hit some shot, get some stops on defense and get it rolling to create some distance.

“If you don’t, we’re going to be in these dogfights all the time. You know, we’re a resilient team, but that’s not a formula to winning ball games in the NFL. They have guys who get paid, too, over there. We have to be better as a team.”

Offensive players had a different take in the locker room. They feel like they’re holding the team back, especially with turnovers and a running game that averaging 2.3 yards per carry against the NFL’s worst run defense through two games.

“I can’t thank the defense enough,” Bears running back D’Andre Swift said. “I apologize to the defense on behalf of the offense. We were not able to feed off of their energy. … We have to execute.”

Execution has to be better all around, though it’s hard to ask more of a pass defense that held Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson to a 39.0 pass rating and picked him off twice. Losing a game to a quarterback performance like that seems wacky.

But there were so many other Bears issues cropping up the Colts were able to overcome it.

Taylor got free for a 29-yard touchdown to open the scoring. Trey Sermon’s touchdown came after that special teams penalty extended a drive. The third Colts score came after a Bears turnover on their 16-yard line.

Several offensive players used the phrase of not executing to their standard, an overall talking point following a game the Bears had several opportunities to win. That’s not by eliminating native plays. Even cutting back a bit on them could’ve earned a ‘W,’ but the sheer volume of catastrophic mistakes doomed their chance of earning the season’s second win.

When bad things happen, as they often do on the road, good teams have to help each other out. That didn’t happen enough on Sunday, no matter how much you dissect the stat or try to assign percentage of blame.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re 1-2,” Byard said. “I don’t care about the stats. We’re trying to win. There are always things we need to correct, but it doesn’t really matter. But, at the end of the day, we’re not playing complementary football.”