SAN FRANCISCO – The Bears doused one fire but ignited another Thursday night at Candlestick Park.

While the defense rebounded from a terrible performance four days earlier against the Cardinals with an inspired effort, the offense experienced a major meltdown in a frustrating 10-6 loss to the 49ers.

This Lance Briggs interception was nullified by a penalty in Thursday night's 10-6 loss.

Quarterback Jay Cutler threw a career-high five interceptions, including two in the red zone, as the Bears failed to score a touchdown for the first time since last Nov. 16 in a 37-3 loss at Green Bay.

“It’s hard to win a football game when you have five turnovers,” said coach Lovie Smith.

Although they made countless mistakes all night, the Bears (4-5) still had a chance to win on the game’s final play after reaching the San Francisco 12 with :08 remaining. But Cutler’s pass intended for tight end Greg Olsen over the middle fittingly was intercepted by safety Michael Lewis in the end zone.

Cutler’s five interceptions spoiled an impressive outing by a resurgent Bears defense, which yielded just 216 total yards. San Francisco’s only touchdown came after cornerback Tarell Brown had returned a Cutler interception 51 yards to the Chicago 14 in the second quarter.

“I’ve got to apologize to the defense,” Cutler said. “The offense as a whole has to apologize. They played a great game. They kept us in there, even through all the turnovers.”

The miscues didn’t end with Cutler’s interceptions. The Bears were also plagued by costly penalties. An offside infraction against Adewale Ogunleye nullified a Lance Briggs interception, and an illegal-man-downfield foul on Roberto Garza wiped out Cutler’s 40-yard pass to Earl Bennett.

The Bears were also flagged twice for delay of game on a two-minute drill at the end of the first half, including once when Robbie Gould lined up for a 45-yard field goal. After the penalty was assessed, Gould drilled a 50-yarder with :02 remaining to draw the Bears to within 7-3 at halftime.

“We’ve turned the ball over some games,” Smith said. “But the penalties, that hasn’t been something that we’ve done a lot. But they hurt you in the end. They can beat you at the end, and that’s what happened.”

At least two of Cutler’s interceptions didn’t appear to be his fault, but that wasn’t the case with his first pick. On third-and-goal from the San Francisco 1 early in the second quarter, he faked a handoff to Matt Forte and fired the ball into the chest of nose tackle Aubrayo Franklin. If Franklin hadn’t picked off the pass, there were two 49ers defenders behind him that would have had a chance to catch the ball.

Matt Forte caught eight passes for a career-high 120 yards in the Bears' loss to the 49ers.

“I can help him there and give him a better call,” said offensive coordinator Ron Turner. “They had it covered well. In that situation, we’d like to throw it away. But I’d like to also give him a better call.”

Cutler was intercepted again on the Bears’ next possession. But this time, Hester slipped to the ground on a deep comeback route, which allowed Brown to pick off the pass. After the cornerback’s long return, Frank Gore’s 14-yard touchdown run up the middle on the next play gave the 49ers a 7-0 lead.

After Cutler threw his third interception on the Bears’ first possession of the second half, the defense responded. Briggs and Ogunleye teamed up to stop quarterback Alex Smith for no gain on a fourth-and-one sneak at the Chicago 46.

Forte’s 31-yard reception on a screen set up Gould’s 38-yard field goal, which drew the Bears to within 7-6 midway through the third quarter. Forte rushed for only 41 yards on 20 carries, but he had eight receptions for a career-high 120 yards, including screen plays of 37, 31 and 12 yards.

The Bears offense failed to take advantage of excellent field position in the second half, with drives that started at the San Francisco 49, the Chicago 46 and the 50 resulting in a field goal and two interceptions.

Cutler’s fourth pick came when safety Mark Roman shouldered tight end Kellen Davis away from a pass over the middle. The Bears quarterback was irate as he walked off the field, upset that the officials did not penalize Roman for pass interference.

The Bears defense forced the 49ers (4-5) to settle for Joe Nedney’s 21-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter—making the score 10-6—after San Francisco had first-and-goal at the 6. But Chicago’s offense followed with a three-and-out and again failed to get in the end zone on its final possession against a 49ers defense that had allowed an average of 30 points during a four-game losing streak.

“We had a shot,” Olsen said. “Our defense played exceptional. Hats off to our defense holding us in the game. They did a great job keeping it close while we were trying to get things rolling.”

With their fourth loss in five games, the Bears fell below the .500 mark and into third place in the NFC North behind the Vikings (7-1) and Packers (4-4). Chicago players will have the weekend off before returning to Halas Hall Monday to begin preparing for next Sunday night’s home game against the Eagles.

“It’s disappointing to be sitting here at 4-5 right now,” Smith said. “I think we’re a better football team than that. But normally whatever your record says is what you are. We have a lot of football left to go. We have another big game coming up. This one is disappointing, this one hurts. But we’ll bounce back from it.”