CHAMPAIGN – No one plays with more heart than Curtis Martin. So no one felt worse for Wayne Chrebet than Curtis Martin.

“I sympathize with Wayne right now,” Martin said after Bears 20, Jets 13, “because Wayne is as tough a competitor and he wants to win more than anybody just about on this field. And you could see that. To jump up there like that, that’s all heart, it’s just unfortunate that the ball came out. He was trying to win the game. That’s all it was, he was just trying to win. And everybody makes mistakes, so I’m not down on Wayne and I don’t think anyone on this team is. We appreciate his effort in trying to win the game.”

Chrebet fumbled during his Flying Wallenda hurdle over Larry Whigham at the Bears 14 in the final minute.

He had caught one over the middle and saw paydirt ahead and went for it. Teammates and coaches consoled him. He blamed himself for the loss that all but eliminates the Jets from the playoffs.

If the Patriots beat the Titans tonight, the Jets cannot win the division, and they are a huge longshot in the wild-card scramble.

Martin rushed for 127 yards, but didn’t feel much better because of the Jets’ plight.

“You just feel hurt,” Martin said. “It makes you question yourself about what you could have done more. I take it personal, and I always think, ‘If I could have done this, or could have done that’ we wouldn’t even have been in that situation.”

He was asked why the Jets came out so flat.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think you can use that as an excuse,” Martin said. “There’s times when you come out flat and you play the best game that you ever played before. So more so than how we feel, it’s about how we play. And today I feel that we played pretty good, but we kept killing ourselves. We kept making the wrong mistakes at the wrong time.”

Martin didn’t believe the Jets played tight.

“The hardest part about it is that there’s no answer,” he said. “I think we have to focus on what we can’t do, and what we can’t do is get the crucial penalties at the wrong times which I think stops our drive and takes a little wind out of our sail.”

Martin credited his offensive line and extra film study after practice for his fourth 100-yard game. He also caught four passes for 33 yards.

“I just saw a couple of key things I saw [Dolphins’ running back] Ricky Williams do that I felt would help us exploit [the Bears] in the running game,” he said.

Jets’ playoff picture

Can win AFC East if

*They win last two games (at Pats, vs. Packers); and

*Patriots lose tonight vs. Titans and next week to Jets, then beat Dolphins in final week; and

*Dolphins lose last two games (at Vikings, at Patriots)

Cannot win Wild-Card spot