For Lovie, too little, way too late?

If Lovie Smith had any rah-rah college spirit about him, then he'd have held up four fingers at Sunday's postgame news conference to let the world know the Bears are headed into the season's fourth quarter.

Then, to ensure it became an all-time sound bite, Smith would have curled those four fingers while making a growling noise.

Since that didn't happen, let's switch to another scenario that might suspend people's beliefs: With Sunday's 17-9 home win over St. Louis, the Bears kick-started their run for an NFC wild-card berth.

Hey, at least the math looks pretty simple with one-fourth of the season to go.

Philadelphia (8-4) must lose its final four games. Green Bay (7-4) must lose four of its final five, starting with tonight's game against Baltimore.

If those things happen, the Bears (5-7) merely need to sweep the Packers, Baltimore, Minnesota and Detroit over the next 28 days. Voila!

"That's the plan," said second-year tackle Chris Williams.

Yeah, the Giants and the Falcons might have a say in this thing, too, but are those teams as hot as the Bears right now?

Linebacker Nick Roach, didn't you guys rush into the Soldier Field home locker room after Sunday's win and yell, "Whoo-hoo! 9-7, here we come!"

Roach, laughing politely, denied the invented scenario.

"Not yet," he said. "(This win) means a lot, but we know we still have four more games to play. It's obviously a good thing for us to build off of."

Actually, running back Matt Forte revealed the Bears' true agenda.

In a gambit reminiscent of college or high school teams, the Bears erased the first 11 games from their record before they began preparing for the Rams.

In other words, your Chicago Bears are now 1-0 in 2009.

"We broke it down (in the locker room) on '2-0' today, so we want to win the next game and be 2-0," Forte said. "We're not going to just lay down these last five games and say, 'Let's pack it up and get ready for next season.' "

Last year's Bears entered the fourth quarter with a 6-6 record and fell 1 win shy of the sweep they needed to get into the playoffs.

Of course, last year's Bears started their run with a three-game home stand against three teams that finished with a combined 19-29 record.

This year, the Bears' next three games are against teams with a combined 25-11 record, not counting the Vikings' game later Sunday at Arizona.

Considering the Bears haven't beaten an above-.500 team since last October, uh, maybe we ought to scratch this whole theory. Whaddya say, Forte?

"We're not focusing on the things that can happen and the things that can't happen because we don't know what can happen," Forte said. "We're just focusing on winning."