Christian Gonzalez thought his illness was “allergies,” and says Caleb Williams’ big late throw went “a millimeter above” Kevin Byard’s finger

Christian Gonzalez was not sure until the day of the game that he would be able to play against the Chicago Bears. The New England Patriots cornerback was added to the injury report with an illness after the team arrived in Chicago, and after Thursday night’s 30-24 loss at Soldier Field he explained what happened. “I woke up and I thought it was allergies. It was a lot more,” Gonzalez said. “But it ain’t nothing at the end of the day.”

He played anyway, and he finished with four tackles. Earlier in his session, he said he was “good enough to play” and that the illness was “just sickness that people get.” The Patriots posted the postgame interviews with Gonzalez, running back Rhamondre Stevenson, receiver A.J. Brown, cornerback Marcus Jones and tight end Hunter Henry on their YouTube channel.

“A millimeter above KB’s finger”

Gonzalez spent much of his time at the podium talking about Caleb Williams, who threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns. “He’s very gifted with how he can run and how he can extend plays,” Gonzalez said. “Like I talked about before the game, you gotta defend the second play. There’s a play, and then there’s a second play with a quarterback like Caleb.”

He pointed to one throw on Chicago’s final drive, a 21-yard completion to Rome Odunze with about three and a half minutes left that Gonzalez and safety Kevin Byard were in on. “That play to Rome, I mean, the ball went maybe a millimeter above KB’s finger,” Gonzalez said. “If it was a little bit lower, KB would have tipped it, and who knows what would have happened. So that’s just when you tip your hat. He made an amazing throw and a good catch.” The Bears ran more than two minutes off the clock after that, and Cairo Santos hit the 58-yard field goal that made it a two-score game.

Gonzalez said the loss does not change how the locker room sees itself. “This team, this locker room, we’re not wavering. We’re not going anywhere,” he said. “All it is is one game. It’s a Thursday night game in October, and we’ll move on.”

Stevenson: “We’ve been working on that play for a long time”

Stevenson scored New England’s most surprising touchdown, a 48-yard catch-and-run on the last play of the first half that cut the Bears’ lead to 20-14. He said the call was not a trick. “I don’t think we’re baiting them into anything,” he said. “That’s just our play call, to be honest. I think it’s kind of how they lined up pre-snap that got us into that play.” He added that the Patriots had “been working on that play for a long time” and that it “came in handy today.”

Stevenson finished with five catches for 93 yards. Asked whether he was frustrated, he was honest. “Right now, 10 minutes after the loss, yeah, I’m kind of frustrated,” he said. “I get my time to be frustrated for about 20 more minutes, then watch the film, see where we can get better.” He also had praise for Drake Maye, who took a hard hit on a touchdown play. “He’s a relentless player,” Stevenson said. “He has our back and we definitely have his back.”

Brown: “Every time I line up, I get a lot of attention”

A.J. Brown, in his second game back from an ankle injury, caught three of six targets for 48 yards. He said the Bears tried to take him away early and that Maye was right to be patient. “I know what type of player I am,” Brown said. “Every time I line up, I get a lot of attention. So teams start taking me away, and it gives a lot of opportunities for other guys to make plays and soften that up for me. And then whenever I get my shots, I gotta make them.” He said he felt fine physically after the short week.

Marcus Jones: “I gotta make the tackle”

Marcus Jones had nine tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack, but he was hard on himself. He said Colston Loveland’s 12-yard touchdown in the third quarter was on him. “I gotta make the tackle when it comes down to that,” he said. “I’m a hard critic on myself, so I’ll get it corrected for sure.” He called Chicago’s offense under Ben Johnson “one of the tops, for sure,” and said the defense fell short of its standard by not forcing a turnover.

Jones said Mike Vrabel’s message after the game was that the Patriots are close. “We fought to the last beat, basically,” Jones said. “The main thing I would say that was a real message was like, we’re close.”

New England fell to 4-3, ending a three-game winning streak. The Patriots have extra rest before they visit the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, November 1, at 4:25 p.m. ET (11:25 p.m. in Cairo).