Lovie Smith still thinking 10 wins

Rather than focusing solely on Sunday's game against the Denver Broncos, Bears coach Lovie Smith took the unusual approach Monday of insisting that his battered and beaten 4-6 team take a wider view of its depressing situation.

"Normally 10 wins will get you in (the playoffs), so we looked at the big picture," Smith said. "Normally we just look at one game at a time, but I wanted the team to see the big picture, too.

"The big picture is 10 wins normally gets you into the playoffs."

That would require, in order, victories over the 4-5 Broncos, who hosted the Tennessee Titans on Monday night, and the 7-3 New York Giants at home, the 5-5 Washington Redskins and the 4-6 Minnesota Vikings on the road, and the 9-1 Green Bay Packers and 4-6 New Orleans Saints at home.

A daunting prospect for a team that has yet to win two games in a row.

However, in this season of haves and have-nots, it's a good bet that a 9-7 team will make the NFC playoffs.

That probably improves the Bears' chances from 1-in-a-million to 1-in-500,000.

If you concede the first of the two wild-card spots to the Giants, the overachieving Lions are the only team with a 2-game lead over the Bears. The Lions started 6-2, are now 6-4 and probably on their way to 8-8. They still must play the Packers twice, the 9-1 Dallas Cowboys and 4-6 Kansas City Chiefs at home, and the Vikings and San Diego Chargers on the road.

None of that matters unless the Bears win at least five of their remaining six games.

In the wake of Sunday's loss at Seattle, the prospects aren't good for Smith's team, as was made clear by his assessment of the defeat.

"We did enough offensively to keep us in the game and give us a chance to win," Smith said. "Defensively, we did not. When you have a lead early, we normally are able to hold on to that lead, but they hit some big pass plays."

It's easy to imagine that happening more often because the once-mighty Bears defense doesn't seem capable of stopping anyone better than the lowly Oakland Raiders.

Defensive tackle Tommie Harris is trying to play through a knee injury with little effectiveness. Meanwhile, cornerback Nate Vasher's return from a serious groin injury is into its ninth week, and he's unlikely to go from inactive to impact player overnight.

The defense needs help now, though, based on the way it was carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey by Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.

"It's just not the secondary," Smith said. "Normally when the secondary isn't playing as well as you would like them to, it's (also) about up front, and it's about linebackers. We definitely need to improve on that. We're better than we played."

That hasn't been evident in most of the recent games, though. Like most NFL teams, the Bears purposely are vague about injuries. So it's necessary to read between the lines, and the message is not encouraging.

"Tommie Harris was able to get through," was all Smith could say of Harris' 1-tackle performance. "We kind of limited his reps a little bit.

"I know it's been reported that he's going to have off-season knee surgery and all of that; we're not to that point by any means. Tommie has been cleared to play medically, and I thought he made it through the game fairly well."

When he's healthy, Harris is a Pro Bowl player who can impact the outcome of a game. If all he can do is "get through" the game while playing half his usual amount of snaps, the Bears will suffer.

While rookie cornerback Trumaine McBride has played better than anyone would expect from a seventh-round pick, the Bears miss Vasher, who has yet to tolerate a full week of practice and probably is not close to playing a full game.

"Nathan Vasher is getting better. Hopefully we will get him out on the football field before long," Smith said Monday for approximately the 37th time.

Indications are that Smith is right on, but by the time Vasher is ready to help, it may be too late.