CHICAGO — Hoping to win, hop on a plane and get good news when they arrived back in New Orleans, the Saints instead headed home yesterday knowing their season was over.

Kick returner extraordinaire Devin Hester raced for a pair of TDs — one on a 64-yard punt return, another on a 55-yard pass — and the Chicago Bears beat the Saints, 33-25, erasing New Orleans' slim chances for the playoffs.

Eleven months ago the Saints' season ended in the NFC Championship game with a 39-14 loss at Soldier Field that sent the Bears to the Super Bowl.

Now New Orleans was left to digest another loss on the same field — this time without making the postseason.

"They feel about the same," said Drew Brees, who set an NFL record for completions in a single season — he finished with 443 — while attempting 60 passes yesterday. "If we had won this game we still might have had an opportunity for the playoffs."

Saints coach Sean Payton didn't see the similarities between the two disheartening losses.

"It is different. Different teams, different circumstances — an NFC championship game and 7-9," he said. "It's an irony that the season ended here."

New Orleans needed to beat the Bears and have both the Redskins and Vikings lose in later games.

Now the two teams that were atop the NFC last season are both out in the cold.

Chicago (7-9), which lost the Super Bowl to the Colts, was eliminated from the postseason picture two weeks ago. The Bears won their final two games, their only two-game winning streak all year.

"Coming off the season we had last year, we were hoping for better things. But at the end of the day, we left off with a good note," Hester said.

"Look at way we're playing right now. We should have been doing that all season. It's tough. But things happen."

Hester now has four punt return TDs and two on kickoffs this season. Last year he had five total, three on punts and two on kickoffs — not counting one to start the Super Bowl.

After the Saints went three-and-out on the first series of the second half, Steven Weatherford punted to Hester — a mistake. He went right and then quickly cut back left, found a seam and easily outraced would-be tacklers to put the Bears ahead 31-17.

"The punt plan was out of bounds. Period," Payton said.

Brees was 35-of-60 for 320 yards with three TDs, eclipsing the previous mark of 418 completions set by Rich Gannon in 2002.

FALCONS 44, SEAHAWKS 41

ATLANTA — Chris Redman set a career high with four touchdown passes to give the Falcons (4-12) a feel-good finish to an ugly season.

Redman completed 17 of 27 passes for 251 yards and Atlanta rode three fourth-quarter touchdowns to snap a six-game losing streak.

Shaun Alexander and Maurice Morris, who rushed for 91 yards, had touchdown runs for the NFC West champion Seahawks (10-6).

PANTHERS 31, BUCS 23

TAMPA, Fla. — DeAngelo Williams rushed for 121 yards and two second-half touchdowns, lifting the Panthers (7-9) with the retiring 44-year-old Vinny Testaverde taking the last snap in the same city where he began his NFL career in 1987.

Testaverde, the first pick in the '87 draft by the Bucs, entered the game after the Panthers stopped Tampa Bay's final drive on downs with 35 seconds remaining. He received polite applause from what was left of a crowd of 65,609, then took a knee on the last play.

The Bucs (9-7) will enter the playoffs on a two-game losing streak after treating the past two weeks much like the preseason.

PACKERS 34, LIONS 13

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Brett Favre extended his quarterback-record consecutive starts streak to 253 games, but didn't keep his helmet strapped on for very long. Favre led the Packers (13-3) to touchdowns on their first three possessions before handing the ball to backup Craig Nall in the second quarter.

Green Bay wasn't able to completely avoid injuries, as running back Ryan Grant left the game with a stinger in the first quarter, and cornerback/punt returner Will Blackmon was carted to the locker room with a foot injury just before halftime.

The Lions delivered an uninspired performance in going from 6-2 to 7-9.

CARDINALS 48, RAMS 19

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Larry Fitzgerald caught 11 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns, and the Cardinals finished an 8-8 season with their highest-scoring game in 30 years.

Kurt Warner threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns, but was intercepted twice. Oshiomogho Atogwe returned one of the picks 52 yards for a score.

The Rams (3-13), plagued by injuries most of the year, finished with a four-game losing streak after opening 0-8.

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