Smile about? Or frown about?

What if the Bears win out to complete a sweep of their final four games and finish 10-6 but still don't make the playoffs?

Is the season a success or a failure?

It depends who you ask.

"It's the best we could do at this point," tight end Desmond Clark said. "I'd consider that we finished up pretty good. But we'll look back on it if we don't make the playoffs, just like everybody else is going to do, and say: 'What if we would have won that Atlanta game? What if we would have won that Tampa Bay game?' We would have been in the playoffs.

"But at this point, my mind set is the best we can do is 10-6, and that'll be good enough for me." But that might just make the blown leads early in the season even more regrettable. The Bears took a 20-19 lead over the Falcons with just 11 seconds left at the Georgia Dome on Oct. 12, but managed to lose 22-20 on a 48-yard Jason Elam field goal as time expired.

Three weeks earlier, the Bears led the Bucs 24-14 at Soldier Field after a Kyle Orton-to-Brandon Lloyd TD pass with 6:38 left. But Tampa Bay scored 10 points in the final 3:11 and won 27-24 in overtime.

As a 10-6 team not participating in the postseason, the Bears would be a novelty, since only five 10-win teams have failed to make the playoffs since the current postseason format was instituted in 1990. Since then, 32 teams have qualified for the NFL's second season with 10-6 records.

"I think 10-6 is a good record, whether we make the playoffs or not," Orton said. "For our team to go 10-6 would be a great way to end the season. What happens (after) that is left up in the air, I guess."

If the Bears finish 10-6, it will mean they finished with 4 straight victories, which would be their longest winning streak since 2006. That surge could provide momentum toward next season, despite the letdown of watching the playoffs from home.

"I've never played football and not gone to the playoffs and thought that it was a good year," Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs said. "So I would feel that it was a disappointment, but (it would) definitely be something to build off of. (A record of) 10-6 is a lot better than what we had last year."

It would be a three-game improvement over last season's 7-9 record and a nice recovery from a mediocre 5-5 start this season.

"You have to look at everything that's happened," said offensive tackle John St. Clair. "Seasons go up and down, and I think a 10-6 season is not bad at all; that's a playoff-type season normally. I don't think we'll hang our heads at all. If we get to 10 wins, I won't be hanging my head, and I'm sure the rest of the guys on the team won't either."

Coach Lovie Smith wouldn't allow himself to look ahead any farther than Monday night's game at home against the Packers.

"Right now, getting 9 wins is pretty important," Smith said. "I have a hard time seeing any farther than that. I'll be feeling pretty good if we get that ninth win this week."