CHICAGO — The “Monday Night Football” broadcast played the clip twice, just to drive home the point.

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had just taken a huge hit from Minnesota Vikings outside linebacker Jihad Ward while throwing an incomplete pass to end a drive early in the fourth quarter.

Back on the Bears sideline, Williams briefly slumped onto his side on the bench — in pain or exhaustion or a mix of both. He paused for only a few seconds, but it was enough for social media to run with the image as a symbol of how wrong the Bears’ development of Williams’ rookie season has gone.

And they speculated on the broadcast what it meant too.

“We were watching him on the sideline, he was grimacing and in an enormous amount of pain,” analyst Troy Aikman said on the ABC broadcast. “As I watch him, you can tell he’s a defeated guy. He hasn’t been through anything like this at any point in his career, and what you worry about is a rookie quarterback losing confidence.”

Williams said after the Bears’ 30-12 loss to the Vikings that he has some “bruises and contusions” after taking three quarterback hits — all hard ones. He likened the toll this 58-sack season has taken on his body to being in a car crash.

But he dismissed the idea there has been a mental toll too.

Obviously, Williams is frustrated with the Bears’ eight-game losing streak and the on-field struggles that have contributed to it. But he went so far as to say he also is encouraged by how he and the team have fought through an incredibly trying 4-10 season.

He pointed to not playing as well as he wanted to at the start of the season, followed by the firings of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and head coach Matt Eberflus, as challenges he is learning to work through.

“Being able to wake up, be consistent, do that every day with how it’s been going is encouraging for me,” Williams said. “It’s encouraging for this team.”

On his day-after-game Zoom call with reporters Tuesday, interim coach Thomas Brown reiterated what he has said recently as Williams trudges on through the losses.

“I think mentally he’s in a good spot,” Brown said. “Of course he’s frustrated like we all are from the standpoint of just not getting the result. But confidence isn’t shaken.

“Kind of looking at some of those (hits) last night, they did have some pressures, only had two sacks. So we continue to find ways to find answers to get the ball out of his hands faster and also to shore up protection.”

The protection part was in the spotlight Monday when the Bears started rookie left tackle Kiran Amegadjie in place of Braxton Jones, who had a concussion. Brown did not provide injury updates Tuesday, saying those would come later in the week. So it’s unknown if Jones could return quickly enough to play Sunday against the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field.

Brown noted Amegadjie, who gave up Williams’ first quarter sack-fumble, started for the first time under difficult circumstances — in a tough road environment against an aggressive defense. Brown said he hopes that with more starter reps in practice, the rookie tackle could improve.

And Brown delivered this message to the 2024 third-round draft pick.

“Regardless of what’s going on, first and foremost, ignore the outside noise because people have a lot of comments with no solutions, a lot of problems with no answers,” Brown said. “So I have full faith and belief in his abilities as a person.

“He continued to battle throughout the entire night. We’ve just got to find ways to get some better answers at times. We’ve got to help him out better from a pass-protection standpoint.”

In conjunction with the protection problems, Williams had his struggles Monday. He completed 18 of 31 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown and had some glaring missed connections with receivers.

Williams said he would go back and watch the film of what he thought was a good outing by the Vikings defense, which brought some unexpected wrinkles.

“They didn’t bring as many Cover-0s as I thought they would bring,” Williams said. “They played a little bit more coverage and zone. They dropped out and did a couple interesting things on defense.

“They ended up stopping us a few times on some of their exotic looks they brought and had in coverage. So it’s just being able to find ways to get better, myself and the team.”

Williams has three more games in his rookie season. Though they’re meaningless for the Bears in terms of postseason stakes, Brown is stressing to his players there are still things to play for — personal pride and development and learning how to deal with difficulties in football and in life.

The development of Williams is paramount as the Bears look toward their future.

Brown’s checklist for Williams in the last few weeks includes continuing to progress with his communication in and out of the huddle so the offense can make quick adjustments as needed. Brown also indicated he wants Williams to hone his work leading up to games.

“It’s also understanding how to go through every single call the days before, the nights before the game, leading up to a game,” Brown said, “so we have some answers if the defense gives you different wrinkles when it comes to playing man coverage, when it comes to different pressures, when it comes to empty stuff and overloading us.

“He’s continuing to progress well. He’s a super-confident dude, which I love about him. Just continue to keep battling.”

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