PRO FOOTBALL : Fourth and One, and Payton Isn’t the One : In Final Regular-Season Game, Bear Star Has His Best Day of Season, but . . .

If you’re the Chicago Bears and you’re trying to put the Raiders away late in the third quarter with a first down at the four-yard line, what do you do?

Give the ball to football’s all-time rusher?

Of course not. If you’re Mike Ditka’s Bears, you let Walter Payton have one, futile courtesy shot, then have your quarterbacks try to run it in, even to the point of disdaining a fourth-down field goal.

One thing about Ditka, he isn’t getting carried away with Payton’s farewell tour of the National Football League.

Truth is, on his day to be a hero, Payton came perilously close to winding up the goat with a late fumble that, save for cornerback Vestee Jackson’s desperate leap, the Raiders would have turned into the winning touchdown on a pass from Marc Wilson to Todd Christensen.

Early on, Payton committed another turnover with an ill-advised option pass that was intercepted by Vann McElroy; and when he was ignored in the critical goal-line situation, the message seemed clear that it’s about time for him to walk away with what he has before it becomes embarrassing.

Personally, Payton assessed Sunday’s performance as “pretty good for an old man,” and his 82 yards rushing in 20 attempts (4.1 average) did represent the pinnacle of his 13th and final season.

The errors he could take in stride because the Bears, after all, won.

“This last regular-season game was a plus because it was a win,” he said afterward, “but we’ve still got a long way to go. Regardless of how you play or how old you get, you can always improve.”

The Bears were trying to run out the clock when Payton swept right, was hit by Raider linebacker Jerry Robinson and dropped the ball, which was recovered by nose tackle Bill Pickel at the 50 with 1:31 remaining.

Payton, later pressed against a wall by dozens of reporters and TV cameramen, explained: “It was supposed to be a throw back (to quarterback Mike Tomczak), and once I got out there I lost Tomczak.

“I was hollering ‘go’ and the offensive linemen didn’t hear me because they don’t want to go downfield, just in case I throw the ball. Then when I got out there I was running out of room. I tried to reverse my field and just turn up and not go out of bounds. As soon as I turned up, he--whoever it was (Robinson)--just put his hands around the ball.”

Ditka took Payton off the hook for the fumble, but not for the interception.

“I thought he did good,” Ditka said, assaulting the English language the way the Bears went after Wilson (nine sacks). “I got mad at him ‘cause he threw that option pass when the guy was covered.

“He had the one fumble at the end of the game, which was critical, but that was such a stupid call with the 34 defense that I’ll take the blame for that. I wouldn’t even blame Walter for that.”

But the 78,019 fans, cheering robustly for the Bears at the time, were probably most surprised when Ditka snubbed Payton at the goal line. He gave Payton one crack at left guard for no gain, then had Tomczak run a rollout left and then a rollout right, where he ran into strong safety Stacey Toran for a KO at the one.

That forced Ditka to bring in rookie Jim Harbaugh, who on fourth down tried to vault over the top, where he ran into linebacker Matt Millen, when an easy field goal by Kevin Butler would have given the Bears a 6-3 lead.

“The fans got into it,” Tomczak said. “We got into it. It got kind of emotional down there. We tried two rollout plays; and the one I got dinged on, Toran made a good play--came up and stuck me pretty good. I can’t remember what happened on fourth and one.”

Ditka said: “I thought we could score (a touchdown). If you can’t score on a quarterback sneak from the half-yard line . . . if Jim had it to do over, he jumped too quick. But we were less than half a yard. That’s why I did that instead of sending Walter over the top.”

Bear free safety Gary Fencik said he wouldn’t have been surprised by whatever the Bears tried.

“I thought they’d try to use (Payton) as a decoy and try to sneak it in,” Fencik said. “I’m not the writers. I don’t think about, ‘Why don’t they give him the ball?’ I just want to score. I don’t care how they do it.”

While many have been swimming in the sentiment surrounding Payton, perhaps not many fans have noticed that Fencik is retiring after this season, too. A former All-Pro, he lost his job this season and only moved back into the starting lineup Sunday when Ditka made six defensive changes.

“When you play 12 years I don’t think it really hits you until sometime after the season,” Fencik said.

“Walter has played 13 years, and he was a first-round pick. I came in as a free agent. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about my limitations, but I’m still here.”

The Bears won’t be retiring Fencik’s number 45, as they are shelving Payton’s 34, but Fencik said: “The Bears have said they’re gonna have something for me, too.

“Everybody keeps looking at it in relation to Walter Payton. I think that’s a really unfair comparison. I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had two lunches, and my teammates have treated me tremendously the entire year.

“I just hope I can end it on a real high note. I’m back in the starting lineup, and I hope it ends in (the Super Bowl at) San Diego, on the top looking down.

“Walter? He’s a pleasure to watch. When you’ve played as long as I have with Walter over the years, everyone is taking him for granted because he’s never been injured, he’s always just kept ticking.

“Certainly his statistics aren’t as good as they’ve been in past years, but we’ve also had two halfbacks playing the entire year, and we haven’t had a lead blocker until last week.

“Walter predates every player on our team. This team doesn’t know anything other than Walter Payton at halfback. I think Walter’s value will be more remembered next year.”

Payton’s final thoughts after his last regular-season game: “It’s been a wonderful 13 years and it’s not over yet. We’ve still gotta run for three more games.

“We don’t look back. We’re looking forward. You can’t do time over. If you keep leaning on the past, the future is gonna run you over.”