The task for the Chicago Bears amid the aftershocks of Sunday's traumatic 22-20 loss in Atlanta is simple: Get over it. Rarely, however, will it be as difficult as it is this week.

"That's the first game I've ever been involved in where I lost like that," said safety Mike Brown, shaking his head. "I've been in a lot of football games, but never one like that where you were so emotionally up (after Kyle Orton's 17-yard TD pass for a 20-19 lead with 11 seconds left) and then down (Jason Elam's game-winning field goal as time expired)."

If the Bears rebound and go on to reach the playoffs, they may want to consider future careers as therapists for the love lost.

Bears players, in fact, get over defeats by employing a practical method that anyone getting over a failed relationship can appreciate: Replacement. Rather than repeat over and over, "Forget that loss, forget that loss," the Bears squeeze it out of their lives by replacing it with something directly in front of them, in this case the Minnesota Vikings.

"When you turn the film on of the next team, you can't be thinking of the last game," center Olin Kreutz said. "That's the way I put it behind me. When you turn the film on of Pat and Kevin Williams (Vikings defensive tackles with five combined Pro Bowls), you better be thinking about Pat and Kevin Williams."

Time is a successful antidote for broken hearts, which the Bears admitted having after Elam's 48-yard field goal Sunday.

In this situation time works two ways. The more time in the NFL, the more players understand the grieving process. And they focus on the true goal, which is beyond any one game.

"You never get better at losing," said Kreutz, in his 11th season. "But the older you get, you just realize, like the Giants last year, all you're trying to do is get to the playoffs."

At the same time the short turnaround between games is a remedy in itself.

"If we lose, I'm mad for the next couple days," defensive end Alex Brown said. "Even though you come to practice, you still think about it, and this one probably will be on your mind even after then next game.

"But you've got to play. Minnesota sure doesn't care how we lost to Atlanta."

For Mike Brown, in his ninth season, "that's the great thing about the NFL. The games happen on a weekly basis and next Sunday can't get here soon enough."