When the schedule was released, it was obvious there wouldn’t be another 10-game winning streak this year. Playing five of last season’s playoff teams in the first seven weeks, we figured they would do well to come out of it 4-3.

Which is what they are.

Unlike last year, they don’t have the benefit of a cupcake schedule, plus they’ve had a lot of starters visiting the blue tent. The Patriots have lost multiple offensive linemen and cornerbacks, and it seems like a starting receiver goes down every other week. They’re up to 21 players on the injured reserve list.

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Thursday’s 30-24 loss to the Bears at Soldier Field was competitive but also indicative of where the Patriots stand in the NFL’s power rankings. They are a potential playoff team, but it’s not going to be easy — not with games still to be played against the Packers, Lions, Bills, Vikings, Chiefs, and Broncos.

At times, they were dominated in Chicago, but they were very much in the game with two minutes to play. In the end, the Bears bled them to death, and the Patriots ultimately expired in a hail of penalties (10 in all) and poor tackling.

“Our tackling wasn’t good enough,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “It’s a thin margin when you play good teams.”

It was a tough night, and difficult loss, for Patriots coach Mike Vrabel to swallow Thursday night in Chicago. Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

Their next game is at winless Miami on Nov. 1, and it would be nice to see them play four quarters without giving the ball away. They ranked second (to the winless Chargers) in turnovers after the first six weeks, and had another killer one Thursday night when Drake Maye again was intercepted in the end zone. It was Maye’s eighth pick of 2026, putting him in a first-place (last-place?) tie with the Chargers’ Justin Herbert for the most in the NFL.

“It was a huge play in the game,” acknowledged Maye. “Those plays can impact a game … It’s frustrating. I know that was a big turning point in the game, and I let my team down.”

Vrabel was blunt when he talked about turnovers on his weekly WEEI appearance last Monday.

“We turn the ball over at a historic rate, and it’s ridiculous and it’s an embarrassment,” said the coach.

There’s also the A.J. Brown problem. New England gave up a lot to bring him here, but Brown suffered a high ankle sprain in the opener, missed the next four games, and has been quiet in the 2½ games he’s played. In Chicago, Brown caught three balls on six targets for 48 yards — not very Moss-like. We’re still waiting for Brown’s first Patriots touchdown.

Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson tips a pass away from Patriots wide receiver A.J. Brown in the fourth quarter. Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

With 10 days between games, we’ll no doubt have much talk about turnovers, injuries, and Brown’s silence. This is New England; it’s what we do.

But after another strong outing (24 of 31, 321 yards), Maye is the real deal. Same with Vrabel: He’s got his team embracing the “next man up” mentality that marked the Belichick-Brady era.

There’s no disgrace in losing a “Thursday Night Football” game in Soldier Field to a 5-2 Bears team. The 2026 Patriots are competitive and fun. That’s good enough for this veteran cynic.

⋅ Quiz: 1. Name four Patriots who have been inducted to both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame; 2. Name five current Eastern Conference head coaches who have won an NBA championship. (Answers below.)

⋅ According to White House communications director Steven Cheung, former press secretary Katie Zacharia was not fired but will be “transitioning into a new role that will be announced at a later date.” In Red Sox parlance, Ms. Zacharia was “Variteked.”

⋅ Hate to break it to you all, but only in Boston are the 2026-27 Celtics considered championship contenders. Local Green Teamers seem to think the Celtics are in the mix, but that opinion is not shared elsewhere. In Las Vegas, it’s all about San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, and New York, with the Celtics a distant fifth.

⋅ It appears that it’ll be a long time before the Red Sox again have big-name ex-players serving as big league coaches. No more Jim Rice or Jason Varitek in the dugout. Today’s major league coaching staff is populated by anonymous, analytics-driven, nice young men who never played in the big leagues and won’t complain about how little they are paid. Hard to believe that Joe DiMaggio once served as a major league coach for the Oakland A’s.

⋅ For the first time since 1980 (Phillies vs. Royals), the Fall Classic features two teams that have never won a World Series. Milwaukee (smallest media market in the majors) vs. Tampa Bay (joke ballpark with traditionally sparse attendance) will be a TV ratings disaster, which is not what MLB needs as the sport prepares for what projects to be a long lockout.

⋅ True to form, the Rays did not fill their circus-tent park for the first two games of the American League Championship Series. Tropicana Field was full only for the finale, when Junior Caminero played showboat buffoon (hello, Willson Contreras) with his insufferable trot after a game-sealing home run. The Rays have MLB’s longest-tenured manager, Kevin Cash, and have been in two World Series, losing to the Phillies in 2008 and the Dodgers in 2020.

⋅ The Brewers’ sweep of the two-time defending champion Dodgers in the National League Championship Series came with a reminder of Tampa Bay’s first World Series appearance. The 2008 Rays-Red Sox ALCS was a classic, with Tampa Bay winning a seventh game when young David Price — fresh out of Vanderbilt — came on in relief to punch out J.D. Drew. The Sox were defending world champions that year and manager Terry Francona still believes ’08 might have been his best Boston team.

After losing, Francona and several players cited a 2007 hangover and 2008’s preposterous, March/April, spring training/regular season, 19-day trip from Fort Myers, Fla., to Japan, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Toronto, before they finally made it to Boston for the home opener.

“The team made good money, but that trip got everybody out of control,” noted David Ortiz.

Similarly, the Dodgers talked about long international preseason trips (Seoul in 2024, and Japan in 2025) while making their title defense this season.

“The train ran out of steam,” said veteran third baseman Max Muncy.

⋅ Taking advantage of a night off in Los Angeles during their West Coast trip, Bruins Mason Lohrei and Morgan Geekie took in Game 4 of the Brewers’ sweep at Dodger Stadium.

⋅ Boston College should have hired former Holy Cross football coach Bob Chesney when it had the chance. It’s hard to overstate what Chesney is doing at UCLA. The 7-0 Bruins, ranked No. 9, beat Michigan State on Saturday and are the Big Ten’s only undefeated team. Chesney coached at tiny Salve Regina and Assumption before six seasons at Holy Cross, where he won five Patriot League titles and went to four FCS playoffs.

Bob Chesney’s UCLA Bruins went into the weekend as the Big Ten’s only undefeated team.AP Photo/Kyusung Gong

⋅ Congrats to Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who celebrated 25 years of “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN this past week. I was at a Boston radio station with historian David Halberstam in 2001, when the worldwide leader announced that the two Washington Post scribes were going to do a sports show. “Those two don’t know anything about television,” remarked Halberstam. He was right. But they were two of the top sportswriting talents in America and their skills easily transitioned into one of the best sports TV shows of all time.

⋅ Former sideline reporter Michele Tafoya is the Republican candidate for Minnesota’s open US Senate seat Nov. 3. Kudos to the Wall Street Journal for its Thursday headline: “Michele Tafoya in the Red Zone.”

Republican Michele Tafoya is vying for Minnesota’s open US Senate seat.Stephen Maturen/Getty

⋅ In honor of Kenny Klein, who died in June at the age of 66, the St. John’s men’s basketball team (a G League NCAA unit if ever there was one) will keep an empty seat at its scorer’s table and wear “K.K.” bands on its uniform jerseys this season. Klein was the longtime sports information director at Louisville who later spent two seasons at St. John’s to assist coach Rick Pitino before retiring.

⋅ Bill Bradley lent his fame to the ribbon-cutting of the Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School in the Bronx on Oct. 15, joining his ex-teammate for the dedication of the Pearl’s namesake charter school. Bradley and Monroe played in Philadelphia’s Baker League before becoming championship teammates on the 1972-73 Knicks.

⋅ Speaking of ex-Knicks, Amar’e Stoudemire graduated from the Miami-Dade Police Academy on Oct. 15 and will join the county’s school police department. A first-round draft pick of the Suns in 2002, Stoudemire played 14 NBA seasons and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in Springfield in August.

⋅ According to the ticket reselling site TickPick, the average price for a ticket to the Knicks’ banner-raising season opener on Tuesday was $1,894.

⋅ RIP Cliff Hagan, Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame forward and a critical part of Boston sports history, who died Oct. 15 at the age of 94. While starring at Kentucky, Hagan was drafted by Celtics boss Red Auerbach in 1953, but never played a game for the Green. Hagan returned to Kentucky for the 1953-54 season, then served two years in the Air Force, before he was dealt to St. Louis along with star Ed Macauley for the Hawks’ top pick (No. 2) in the 1956 draft. Auerbach used that pick to select Bill Russell out of the University of San Francisco.

⋅ RIP Todd Benzinger, former Red Sox outfielder/first baseman who died Wednesday at the age of 63. Benzinger was a critical part of the “Morgan Magic” Red Sox back in the summer of 1988.

⋅ When the Vegas Golden Knights drew 15,977 for a home game (1,390 shy of capacity) against the Maple Leafs on Oct. 8, it marked the first non-sellout in franchise history.

The Golden Knights defeated the Maple Leafs on Oct. 8, but for the first time in Vegas franchise history, the home game was not a sellout.AP Photo/David Becker

⋅ Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito was a bat boy for the Brewers in Milwaukee’s 1982 World Series loss to the Cardinals.

⋅ On Sunday, the West Newton Cinema will feature the film “Friday Night Lights” at 1 p.m., followed by a panel discussion with yours truly, WBZ’s Steve Burton, and Newton North football coach Nick Capodilupo. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or at westnewtoncinema.com.

⋅ Quiz answers: 1. John Hannah (Alabama), Mike Haynes (Arizona State), Andre Tippett (Iowa), Randy Moss (Marshall); 2. Mike Brown (Knicks), 2025-26 Knicks; Rick Carlisle (Pacers), 2010-11 Mavericks; Joe Mazzulla (Celtics), 2023-24 Celtics; Nick Nurse (76ers), 2018-19 Raptors; Erik Spoelstra (Heat), 2011-12, 2012-13 Heat.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy.