DETROIT -- The feeling came back to Matthew Stafford again during warm-ups -- something the Detroit Lions quarterback says he has sensed before. He looked around, saw how his teammates were preparing and thought this might be the day.

The day the Detroit Lions rediscovered the offense that had abandoned them for so much of the season. That all the talent the Lions pieced together would finally live up to its potential. The tempo was faster. Everything was crisper.

And after two straight losses where the Lions didn't score a touchdown and couldn't do much of anything on offense -- they needed a 34-17 win over Chicago like this as they enter a tight playoff race in December.

"It breeds confidence, you know," wide receiver Calvin Johnson said. "We know what we can do. We have film on what we can do so we just stick to those things and have great weeks of practice and just keep on pouring it on."

Against the Bears, Matthew Stafford completed 34 of 45 passes for a season-best 390 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Leon Halip/Getty Images

The confidence comes from 474 yards of offense -- the most the Lions accumulated since last Thanksgiving, when they gained 561 yards against Green Bay and the ninth-best yardage total for the Lions since 2001.

This started a week ago, when Lions offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi trimmed the play sheet so Detroit could practice more plays that would be used in games against different looks. While it didn't show against New England, the team benefited this week, when the Lions were able to focus in on exactly what they wanted to do and when.

One of the biggest changes for the Lions on Thursday was how they ran their offense. There was a faster tempo -- a more urgent pace -- to how Detroit ran its offense and it showed in its 70 plays, only the fifth time Detroit has run that many plays this season. Stafford appeared more comfortable and put together one of the best games of his career, completing 34 of 45 passes for 390 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Stafford said the Lions were kind of in a no-huddle tempo -- even though Detroit did huddle up -- so they could control the game's pace. This, in many ways, fits Stafford better than a slower, more methodical offense. Playing this way, Stafford said, was emphasized during the week.

"We didn't intentionally get away from it," Stafford said. "It's something that you have to be cognizant of and make sure you push yourself on. It's not easy to do. Receivers are running 40 yards down field and running back to the huddle and getting back to the line of scrimmage. It's difficult to do.

"I think being at home helps with as many personnel changes as we do, play-in and play-out, being able to communicate those. Guys being able to see and hear me say who is where in what personnel grouping definitely helps."

It aided Stafford, too. His 75.6 completion percentage was the fourth best of his career and his best since 2012. Actually, of his top six games, completion percentage-wise, three have come against Chicago. His QBR of 82.9 was the ninth-best of his career.

Stafford made smart decisions, evaded pressure well -- he was sacked only twice. The offense avoided penalties (five for 38 yards) and pass-catchers had only one drop. Against the blitz, Stafford was even better. He had a career-high 14 completions against blitzes for a career-high 200 yards. Of those 14 completions, he found Calvin Johnson 10 times for 137 yards and both of Johnson's touchdowns. Those numbers against the blitz are all career-highs for Johnson, too. That was the majority of Johnson's 11 catches for 146 yards.

It started with Stafford.

"This is not a typical performance now, let's not fool ourselves, right," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. "[That's] not something that's done consistently in this league. But do I think that he's capable? I think and still do believe that he's capable of having great games and I do think that you still haven't seen the best of him yet.

"This was outstanding today but I think he's just capable of continuing to rise."

If Stafford does, the Lions might have found the offensive rhythm they have craved all season long.

"As a team we need to play like this more often," Lions receiver Jeremy Ross said. "We always knew we were able capable of playing like this.

"We're not really surprised at how we played because this is how we should be playing. This is the kind of offense we got."