Akiem Hicks is fired up. He knows exactly what is in front of him and the Chicago Bears on Sunday. A game against the rival Green Bay Packers. It’s at Soldier Field. A win gets them into the playoffs. They couldn’t ask for anything better. Even more than that, this game means a lot to Hicks because he wasn’t able to play in the last meeting. The 41-25 debacle saw the defense surrender 34 points and 182 yards on the ground.
Green Bay clearly relished rubbing it in the Bears’ faces that day. Something they’ve done for years including all of Hicks’ tenure with the team. Beating the Packers is really difficult. It would be so easy to build resentment and hatred for them. Something that tends to happen with lots of players in rivalries. Hicks though is wired a bit differently.
He proved that during his latest press conference.
One person who wasn’t afraid to take shots at the Bears this week was David Bakhtiari. The All-Pro Packers left tackle stated on the radio his fervent desire to “beat the piss” out of Chicago. His disrespect was clearly evident. Just a few days later, Bakhtiari went down in practice with a torn ACL. A devasting injury both for him and Green Bay. When Hicks was asked about it, he had a perfect opportunity to fire back.
Instead, he did this.
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This serves as a reminder. It’s perfectly fine to dislike a guy on the field. That is the nature of sports. It’s about the competition. You’re not supposed to like each other. Yet at the same time, it is a game. These men work hard to get where they’re at. Whenever they suffered a brutal injury that threatens their way of life, it is nothing to cheer about. One needs to have some respect for what Bakhtiari is going through. Hicks understands that.
Akiem Hicks remains a true man of class
It could also be he has no interest in angering the football gods before such an important game. All the Bears players have been exceedingly careful of what they’ve said to the media all week long. Their focus is entirely on the game. Nothing else. If the Packers want to talk, that’s fine. They are in a position to do so. Having Aaron Rodgers tends to make you pretty sure of yourselves.
Akiem Hicks isn’t dumb. He knows the Bears have to play a near-perfect game to win. That means stopping the run, pressuring Rodgers, limiting points allowed, and having their own offense score. All at the same time. Something they just haven’t been able to do a lot against Green Bay. One persistent feature of the rivalry has been turnovers. The Packers forced three in the last meeting while Chicago failed to get one.
Beating them is hard enough. The Bears can’t beat themselves too.
We’re about to see just how much Hicks’ presence matters to the defense. Can he get them to play with the necessary fire that was clearly missing last time? Fans better hope so. A defensive gem might be the only way they pull this off.
