Akiem Hicks' injury status raises worrying questions originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
A lot of attention, understandably, has been and will be paid who the Bears starting quarterback will be this week.
But swapping Nick Foles for Mitch Trubisky might not matter if Akiem Hicks doesn’t play Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers.
Hicks did not participate in Wednesday’s practice with a hamstring injury suffered late in the Bears’ Week 10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. He was not spotted during the open viewing period of Monday’s practice at Halas Hall, either.
And while Thursday and Friday’s injury reports will be more telling regarding the 31-year-old’s status for Sunday, the prospect of Hicks not playing at Lambeau Field is unsettling for a team that has to beat the Packers to have any shot at winning the NFC North – or at least staying “in the hunt.”
The Bears' best chance is to force the Packers into a low-scoring brawl. It's going to be hard to do that without Hicks.
There’s little arguing against Khalil Mack being the Bears’ best defensive player, but no player has proven more important to that side of the ball over the last few years than Hicks.
The Bears’ defense just isn’t the Bears Defense without Hicks – we saw it last year, when this team’s slide from great to good on defense coincided with Hicks going on injured reserve. On a smaller scale, Dalvin Cook had 39 yards on 19 carries before Hicks exited last week’s game; he rushed for 57 yards on 11 carries after Hicks’ injury.
And it’s not just Hicks’ top-level ability to pressure quarterbacks and stop the run that makes him so valuable. He’s played a maniacal share of snaps this year – 92 percent against the Saints, 91 percent against the Titans – making him as close to irreplaceable as a defensive lineman can be.
“He wants to play every snap,” defensive line coach Jay Rodgers said earlier this month.
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The Bears, too, will be closely monitoring Eddie Jackson this week after the former All-Pro safety was placed on the COVID-19 list Monday. Jackson did not test positive earlier this week and was placed on the list because of a close contact.
Since the start of the 2016 season, the Bears have played just one game without both Hicks and Eddie Goldman (2019’s meaningless season finale against the Vikings). Having to play without that duo in an incredibly meaningful game – against a top-two offense quarterbacked by Aaron Rodgers – is much, much more worrying than figuring out who the stating quarterback will be.
