Akiem Hicks Is Keeping the Engine Running and Other Bears Bullets

Dec 17, 2019

After backing its way into the fantasy football playoffs, my team is doing that thing where it’s getting hot at exactly the right time. And now I’m in the finals. Let’s go win some respect, gang.

Akiem Hicks has the right mindset going into Week 16 (sound on):

View this post on Instagram

What @akiem_hicks said.☝️

A post shared by Chicago Bears (@chicagobears) on Dec 16, 2019 at 2:31pm PST

Matt Nagy has faced his fair share of challenges in his two years as the Bears’ head coach, but the biggest could be coming up. Preparing a team that is out of playoff contention to play games that don’t have anything riding on them isn’t easy. Yes, the players need to play … but coaches need to get those players in a frame-of-mind to put it all on the line the way they did when they were desperately pushing for a playoff spot.

To that end, I wish Hicks was at full strength because he’d be the ideal example of a guy who gives it his all whether your team is 12-4 or 7-8. That non-stop engine was on display Sunday in a loss, when he re-aggravated his elbow injury at several different points in the game against the Packers (and still came back for more). But my head says Hicks’ elbow injury is serious enough to sit him down for the final two games. I wouldn’t put him on injured reserve, if only because I think the heart is there for him to want to try and work through this thing. But my feeling is that putting him through light practices, listing him as a limited participant, and then calling him a healthy scratch could be in order.

Then again, Akiem Hicks is an actual bear and he might just suit up anyway.

But seriously … he is probably going to give it a go (which says everything you need to know about the guy):

Akiem Hicks is gifting Christmas presents to more than 100 kids at the Boys & Girls Club in Waukegan.

I asked him if he would be trying to play again this week.

He said: “I love the game of football and we’ll see how things go.” pic.twitter.com/PWDhq6PJED

— Siera Santos (@SieraSantos) December 16, 2019

If Hicks does indeed suit up, he won’t be alone:

Bears coach Matt Nagy says he's playing his full team and his starters the next two weeks. Nothing changes now that the playoffs are out. Bears will fight to get the last two games regardless.
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) December 16, 2019

Even with that being said, here’s an incomplete list of players who could (in theory) be placed on injured reserve in a move that would allow the Bears to free up roster spots and poach guys off the street or from practice squads across the league: wide receiver Taylor Gabriel, right tackle Bobby Massie, defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris, cornerback Prince Amukamara, inside linebacker Danny Trevathan.

I would have included Hicks in that group, but, again: part of me believes it’s going to be tough to convince him not to give it a go.

Plenty of people watched the Bears lose at noon …

The 200th Bears-Packers matchup Sunday had the the highest Chicago-area ratings of any noon Bears game this season. https://t.co/aVAr1wDXq5

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) December 16, 2019

… which means there was a fair number of folks who saw this play that Brian Baldinger believes will be yoinked by some team and used in the future:

.@ChicagoBears v @packers and the FINAL PLAY; a great play with great execution til the end. Someone between now and #SB54 should steal this play; rehearse it everyday; maybe against 14 players and when the time is right….go win a game! #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/0JdL9QNXYA
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) December 17, 2019

Yours truly will be quite miffed when this gets used to win someone a game of consequence this January.

These numbers are discouraging as heck:

Packers run defense in two games vs. the Bears:

41 carries for 142 yards (3.46 yards per carry). 0 rushes for 10+ yards

Packers run defense in 12 games vs. everyone else:

329 carries for 1,551 yards (4.71 yards per carry). 36 rushes for 10+ yards (3 per game).

— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) December 16, 2019

The Bears need to figure out the long-term future of the quarterback position, but they clearly also should prioritize revamping their running game. Every other team has run wild against the Packers. But in two games against Chicago, Green Bay limited ball carriers to 3.46 yards per carry. That isn’t a good number for an offense, especially when your contemporaries are ripping off 4.71 yards per carry when they are on the field.

It starts on the offensive line, where Charles Leno Jr. has the fifth-worst run-blocking grade among offensive tackles and Kyle Long had the second lowest run-blocking grade (before he fell off the qualifiers list) at PFF.

I suppose that if there is any silver lining, it’s that James Daniels and Rashaad Coward appear to be holding their own in the run game. Daniels (19th) and Coward (27th) both rank in the top 30 among the 79 qualifying guards at PFF in run-blocking grade. Cody Whitehair (19th) ranks in the middle third of centers.

Drew Brees did stuff last night:

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1206771503603290113

The Patriots have stepped in it again:

On Fox NFL Sunday, Jay Glazer showed some of the Patriots' video footage (including a confrontation with Bengals security staff) that could get them in trouble with the league again https://t.co/wJmaF6Tld5 pic.twitter.com/pQvep0rHcm
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 16, 2019

Terrell Suggs was released over the weekend, then claimed on waivers by the Bears’ next opponent:

Despite his desire to end up in Baltimore, former Cardinals’ LB Terrell Suggs is expected to report to Kansas City and play the rest of this season with the Chiefs, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 17, 2019

We’re gonna have to give Eli all the hugs for having to watch a Bulls team that coughs up leads like nobody’s business:

Why Are You the Way That You Are? Bulls Lose to Thunder … Painfully: 109-106https://t.co/u0TE7mmeec

— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) December 17, 2019

written by

Luis C. Medina

Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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Akiem Hicks Is Keeping the Engine Running and Other Bears Bullets

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