The most dejected player in a dejected Bears locker room on Sunday evening might’ve been safety Eddie Jackson, the All-Pro safety who had to watch his team brutally lose to the Philadelphia Eagles from the sidelines at Soldier Field.

Jackson, who’s usually an affable guy to deal with in media sessions, stared straight ahead, clearly frustrated that his sprained ankle prevented him from, perhaps, being the difference in a one-point loss.

“I didn’t want to go out there and not be able to perform to the level that I can, that I know I can,” Jackson said. “So there was no point to going out there and having a bad game to hurt the team. That was just the biggest thing, don’t go out there and try to be a superhero, you can’t perform, you hurt the team giving up big plays and stuff like that.

“But the s*** sucks, man, It sucks. We fought this hard, do everything to come this far and — it’s football, man.”

Jackson tested his ankle before the game, but when asked honestly if he could play man coverage — important against the Eagles’ tight end duo of Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert — he had to admit he couldn’t.

“Sometimes you tell yourself yeah, but in reality you really can’t,” Jackson said.

The Bears were always hopeful Jackson could return for the playoffs from the ankle sprain he suffered after intercepting Aaron Rodgers to seal the Bears’ NFC North title in Week 15. But things perhaps didn’t go according to plan last week, when Jackson didn’t participate in Wednesday’s practice and was limited on Thursday and Friday. Coach Matt Nagy said last week Jackson’s status was “literally” going to be a game-time decision, and it turned out he wasn’t lying.

Jackson, though, wanted to be dressed for the game, hence the shots of him standing on the Bears’ sideline in his full uniform with his helmet on. The Bears had a spot on their active gameday roster open up when Trey Burton was designated as inactive with a groin injury, so there Jackson was, standing at the ready just in case. But “in case” never happened, with the Bears feeling more comfortable with a 100 percent Deon Bush than a hobbled Jackson.

“I wanted to play,” Jackson said. “Really it was my idea, I wanted to go out there and at least dress out. Just to have that feeling, (in case of an) emergency, if I’m not starting, just an emergency if something goes down, you could throw me in the game.

“But…yeah,” Jackson said, trailing off and blankly staring ahead.