Mike Nadel: Don't sweat - Bears are going all the way

Suggest to the Chicago Bears that they won't return to the Super Bowl and they'll laugh in your face.

"Hey, all we need to do is close out the season by winning our last six games," one of them will tell you. And you're supposed to nod your head and say: "Go get 'em then, kiddo, and keep making us proud!"

Despite all the evidence suggesting that desperation and panic would be more appropriate emotions, confidence oozes from a 4-6 team that has too many shortcomings to list.

"I've been in the NFL for a long time and anything can happen," Olin Kreutz said after Sunday's 30-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. "I've seen 9-7 get people in. We still expect to go to the playoffs."

Hear that? They don't just hope to get in - they EXPECT it.

And I expect Warren Buffett to write me a check for $22 billion, so my bank had better be ready for the deposit.

The best postgame nugget came from new/old quarterback Rex Grossman, who, after being reminded that the Bears were competing for a championship last season, was asked what the Bears were competing for now.

"No doubt, we're competing for a championship," he said. "I'm not sure what you're talkin' about."

Great. Don't enough people think Rex is too short without him breaking into an imitation of the Gary Coleman character from "Diff'rent Strokes"?

"We have six losses, which is bad at this point, but by no means are we out of it," Grossman added. "We're not out of it until someone tells us we're out of it."

Uh, OK. You're out of it. Well, that was my easiest assignment of the year.

Look, I didn't expect the Bears to say they had no chance. Not only would that have been untrue - technically, they still could sneak into the playoffs as the NFC's last wild-card team - but it also would have been quitting.

And there's nothing worse than a quitter. I mean, was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Hey, if Grossman can turn to Arnold Jackson for inspiration, I can't quote Bluto Blutarsky?

While we're on the subject of famous quotes, Mark Twain might serve the Bears' situation best: "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt."

In the visiting locker room at Qwest Field, denial could be heard at every turn. Even coach Lovie Smith talked bravely about "running the table" to get to 10 victories, which would sound swell if the team's longest winning streak this season were more than one.

Seattle receiver D.J. Hackett entered the game with 15 catches for 166 yards. Sunday, he hauled in nine passes for 136 yards. Many of his catches, including a one for a touchdown, came against cornerback Peanut Tillman.

Asked by a reporter if he had struggled, Tillman said: "Nah, I didn't think I struggled." But what about Hackett?

"Who?" Number 18; he had some big numbers. "He did, but I didn't think I struggled. I was cool."

Peanut was cool, all right. The rest of the defense was cool, too, even after being burned for 425 yards.

Remember the good old days, when all anybody worried about was Rex Grossman?

In his return to the starting lineup after his six-week banishment to the bench, Grossman completed 24 of 37 passes for 266 yards. Despite being hassled and hammered by Seattle's blitzing defense, he didn't throw any interceptions.

Grossman did lose a fumble when chased down from behind while trying to make something out of nothing, but all in all, only a real Rex-hater could blame him for this defeat. Especially when there were so many others far more deserving of blame.

The defense no longer is feared. The special teams did little special. The offensive line opened a few holes for Cedric Benson - there's a shock - but was porous on pass blocking and made things worse by committing four false-start penalties.

And the coaching? Benson finally got going but offensive coordinator Ron Turner rewarded him with only 11 carries. (Afterward, Smith again insisted upon calling the Bears a running team. Save it, Lovie.) And those were some fine defensive adjustments Bob Babich's crew made throughout the game to "hold" Matt Hasselbeck to 337 passing yards.

But worry? Nah. Bears fans shouldn't worry. Like Kreutz and the rest of their heroes, fans should "expect" a return to the playoffs.

Because it really wasn't over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. You can look it up.

Mike Nadel (mikenadel@sbcglobal.net) is the Chicago sports columnist for GateHouse News Service. Read his blog, The Baldest Truth, at www.thebaldesttruth.com.