They still have hope that by winning their final two games they can sneak into the playoffs, either by having the Minnesota Vikings lose both of their remaining games ? thereby handing the Bears the NFC North title ? or by squeaking in as a wild card, an even slimmer possibility.

If the Vikings defeat the Falcons on Sunday at the Metrodome, they clinch the NFC North. But, according to the NFL, the Bears cannot be mathematically eliminated from the wild-card chase before next Monday night?s home game against the Green Bay Packers.

Realistically, though, it doesn?t look good.

Tampa Bay and Atlanta, both 9-5, each have to lose both of their remaining games, Philadelphia (8-5-1) has to lose once more, and Dallas has to lose to the Eagles and probably to Baltimore, unless an unrealistic series of events occurs that gives the Bears a stronger strength of victory than the Cowboys.

Regrets? The 8-6 Bears have had a few.

They let three winnable games in the first six weeks of the season ? against the Falcons, Bucs and Carolina Panthers ? turn into losses by a combined total of 8 points.

A win in even one of those games would have greatly increased their playoff chances.

"(There were) a lot of games that we had and let slip by," wide receiver Devin Hester said. "But it is what it is, and it?s reality.

"You can?t go back and dwell on it. We just have to make sure we finish out the season and so, at the end of the day, we (can say we) gave it our all if things don?t work out for us this year.

"We just have to concentrate on these last two games and make sure we win out and do our part."

In Week 2, the Bears led the Panthers 17-3 midway through the third quarter and 17-6 late in the third quarter but lost 20-17.

A week later, at home, the Bears allowed the Bucs to score 10 points in the final 3:11 of regulation and then a chip-shot field goal in overtime in a 27-24 defeat.

On the Bucs? final three possessions, all of which resulted in points, quarterback Brian Griese, a Bear the two previous seasons, completed 17 of 29 passes for 203 yards. He threw 67 passes in the game without being sacked.

"There are a lot of games that we should have walked away with W?s this year, and we didn?t," defensive lineman Israel Idonije said.

"We lost a lot of close ones, and when you look back at the season, that makes it a little bit harder to swallow, just the position we put ourselves in."

Week 6 was the worst. The Bears lost to the Falcons 22-20 in a game they led 20-19 after scoring a touchdown with 11 seconds left.

After a poorly executed squib kick was returned 10 yards to the Falcons? 44, rookie quarterback Matt Ryan completed a 26-yard pass to Michael Jenkins, who got out of bounds with one second remaining. Jason Elam then kicked the winning 48-yard field goal.

"It?s frustrating," tight end Greg Olsen said of the early missed opportunities. "But that?s this game; that?s the NFL. If you ask every team, there are games earlier in the season that, if they would?ve gone (a different) way ? but they didn?t, and there?s nothing we can do about it now.

"We just have to take care of the future, and that?s the two games we have left on our schedule. We have our work cut out for us, and at the end we?ll see how the chips fall."