A number (4) of strange things happen in the NFL

Four was the NFL number of the day Sunday, and not just because Minnesota’s No. 4 was back in Green Bay to play his old Packers.

Washington’s DeAngelo Hall tied an NFL record with four interceptions in a victory over Chicago.

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees was picked off four times in a stunning home loss to Cleveland.

Oakland’s Darren McFadden scored four touchdowns in a rub-your-eyes, 59-14 trampling of the Broncos in Denver.

And four touchdown passes by Ryan Fitzpatrick were almost enough — almost — to lift the winless Buffalo Bills to a shocking victory at Baltimore. They lost on a field goal in overtime, however, and now are the only team without a notch in the win column.

“It’s frustrating,” Fitzpatrick said. “Especially to lose like that.”

Tell that to the San Diego Chargers, who had four turnovers — yes, four — in a span of 13 minutes on their way to a 23-20 home loss to New England.

In years past, the Chargers would have begun turning around their season by now. But 2010 is a strange year, one devoid of any clear patterns, rhyme or reason.

The losses are piling up for teams a lot of people expected to be good — the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys, for instance, have yet to win at home — and the “bad” teams are raising eyebrows all over the league.

In New Orleans, Cleveland rookie Colt McCoy got his first victory as an NFL starter, even though he threw for only 74 yards and his team had only one offensive touchdown.

Turnovers killed the Saints, who were booed by the Superdome crowd as the first half ended. Browns linebacker David Bowens ran back two interceptions for touchdowns.

In a perfect twist for this bizarre season, that came just days after Brees and his wife named their newborn son Bowen.

“You don’t dream of games like that,” Bowens said. “You don’t ever think anything is going to happen like that. It’s unbelievable.”

And who could possibly have imagined that kind of blowout in Denver? The Raiders scored the most points in their 50-year history and built a 38-0 lead in the first 22 minutes.

It’s just about impossible to explain how a team like Oakland can muster nine points in a loss to San Francisco (now 1-6), then humiliate the Broncos so soundly a week later.

The next AFC West opponent for the Raiders? Kansas City in two weeks. By knocking off Jacksonville on Sunday, the first-place Chiefs have won as many games as they won in the entire 2009 season.

Four, naturally.

Stealing a win

NFL officials are seldom in the spotlight, and the league likes it that way. As it happens, though, referee Gene Steratore has had to make the ruling on two of the most controversial plays of the season.

The first was the call that went against Detroit in the Lions-Bears opener, when receiver Calvin Johnson appeared to make a late, go-ahead touchdown catch but the pass was ruled incomplete because the receiver let go of it to celebrate. In large part inspired by that play, the league’s competition committee plans to revisit what constitutes a catch.

And Sunday it was Steratore who made the pivotal call in the Pittsburgh-Miami game, when Ben Roethlisberger fumbled at the goal line on a draw.

While Miami players argued they recovered the loose ball, Steratore awarded it to the Steelers because, as he explained later, “I have to have clear video evidence of the team recovering the fumble. It’s a pile of bodies in there, and you don’t have a clear recovery.”

Pittsburgh got the ball at the half-yard line, kicked the field goal with 2:26 left, and held on to win, 23-22.

Receiving praise

It was a spectacular day for Atlanta’s Roddy White (11 catches, 201 yards, two touchdowns) and an even better one for Tennessee’s Kenny Britt (seven catches, 225 yards, three touchdowns).

Britt, in fact, had the league’s top receiving game this season — and he was benched for the first four series for his role last week in a bar fight.

“His performance has absolutely nothing to do with what happened [Friday], OK? Absolutely nothing,” Titans Coach Jeff Fisher said of Britt. “It was a great performance. I mean, an outstanding performance. It is two separate issues right now.”

Bucs the best?

Lots of people talk about taking one game at a time. Tampa Bay Coach Raheem Morris clearly takes a one-game-at-a-time approach when judging his team.

Two weeks after losing by 25 at home to the Saints, the Buccaneers came from behind Sunday to beat St. Louis, 18-17.

That inspired Morris to make a bold and unusual proclamation: “We’re the best team in the NFC. Yeah, I said it. We’re the best team in the NFC.”

Back to Vick

Kevin Kolb made his third straight start for the Eagles, was intercepted twice and lost a fumble on an exchange at the Tennessee three-yard line with Philadelphia ahead, 16-7. Michael Vick was listed as the third quarterback against Tennessee as he recovers from injured rib cartilage.

Asked who would start at quarterback against Indianapolis after the Eagles’ bye week, Coach Andy Reid was succinct.

“It’s Mike,” Reid said.

sam.farmer@latimes.com

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