Taylor fights illness, then has career day

CHICAGO — Despite spending most of Saturday night dealing with a nasty case of what he suspects was food poisoning, 49ers rookie wide receiver Trent Taylor had the best game of his career Sunday in a 15-14 win over the Bears.

As the kids say, it was a sick performance.

After spending part of his time before kickoff hooked up to an IV, Taylor had careerbests in catches (six) and yards (92) and had one of the game’s biggest plays.

Before kickoff, Taylor focused on the positives in an unpleasant situation: The worst, he figured, had to be over.

“I was throwing up all night, so I thought by game time I was going be done puking,” Taylor said. “If I wasn’t, something was going to be really wrong at that point, for sure.”

Taylor, who hadn’t had more than 47 yards receiving in any of his first 10 games, had the longest catch of his career with the 49ers trailing 14-12 and facing 3rd-and-9 on their own 49-yard line with just over two minutes left. Taylor lined up left and quaterback Jimmy Garoppolo found him over the middle for a 33-yard completion that helped set up Robbie Gould’s winning field goal.

“It was just a 10-yard inroute,” Taylor said. “Luckily, I was able to get inside the defender and Jimmy had great placement on that ball . ... Just laid it up there perfectly for me.”

The catch capped an effort that was appreciated by wide receiver Louis Murphy.

“He’s a tough, tough ass,” Murphy said. “He’s a tough mother. For him to play sick, and fight through that, we needed that. He made a lot of big plays. He gutted it out for the team.” Murphy’s loss: Murphy appeared to make a 12-yard catch over the middle in the first quarter, but cornerback Kyle Fuller ripped the football from his grasp just before he touched the turf.

“It was a good ball and I actually caught it clean, but Fuller’s a good cornerback,” Murphy said. “He made a great play on the ball. They get paid just like we get paid.”

The interception was the first of Garoppolo’s career, which began with 103 passes without a pick. Garoppolo now has one interception in 133 attempts. Injury report: The 49ers didn’t have a player fail to finish the game, although cornerbacks Dontae Johnson and K’Waun Williams left briefly in the first half with unspecified injuries.

Johnson was replaced by undrafted rookie Greg Mabin, whose first play was forgettable: He was in coverage on Mitchell Trubisky’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Dontrelle Inman late in the first quarter. Briefly: Right tackle Trent Brown (shoulder) returned from a one-game absence and was part of an offensive line that allowed two sacks and five quarterback hits. Garoppolo was pressured on nine of his 40 dropbacks, according to Pro Football Focus . ... The 49ers had possession for 38 minutes, 47 seconds, their most since Sept. 28, 2014 against the Eagles (42:17) . ... They allowed eight first downs, their fewest since allowing eight to the Cardinals on Nov. 29, 2010.