"Maybe Jay Cutler was right after all. Maybe the Lions are just an indoor team.

Even though the temperatures were unseasonably warm Sunday at Soldier Field (69 degrees at the start), the Lions, particularly the offense, looked completely out of its element, contributing two fumbles and a two pick-sixes that led to 24 points in the Bears' stunning 37-13 victory.

"If you play this game long enough, you are going to be on the opposite end of some big games," receiver Nate Burleson said. "We went to Denver, blew them out, came in the locker room and acted like nothing happened.

"We came to Chicago, got blown out and now we have to act like nothing happened. We are 6-3. It's not like we are fighting to get to .500. We need to understand that. We are still in good position."

Oh, but they wasted a chance to be in great position. Instead of being 7-2 and in complete control of their wild-card destiny, they have let the Bears into the chase, both at 6-3.

"We have to own up to this game," coach Jim Schwartz said. "It wasn't like that didn't happen. We put it out there and we need to make sure it doesn't happen again. How we bounce back from this game, in the long run, will be more important than what happened today."

How to explain what happened? The Lions came in with the best turnover ratio in the NFL and made six turnovers. They had fumbled once in eight games and fumbled in each of their first two possessions.

Matthew Stafford had thrown four interceptions through eight games and threw four on Sunday.

"We went out of formula today," Schwartz said.

Three things worked against the offense. The first was a wind that was at times gusting up to 35 mph.

"It was an unpredictable wind," Schwartz said. "It seemed like it was gusting at all the wrong times."

The wind, plus — as was revealed after the game — Stafford was playing with a fractured index finger on his right hand, played havoc with his accuracy. He hurt the finger in Denver two weeks ago and he wore a glove for the first time in his career. He said the glove was to protect the finger and help with the grip.

"I was fine with the glove," said Stafford, who was 33 for 63 for 329 yards. "The finger wasn't much of a problem. It was mostly the wind. We put ourselves in a tough spot and the wind was blowing the ball around."