All Access: Hicks talks defensive potential

for listening. We're doing our first live show of the regular season here at hat Us on our PANC Studios. Bears fans are here in attendance. Tom's been entertaining. He's been like the warm up, warm up guy for the show. You've done a nice job, jokes and everything. Yeah, yeah, No, I think you're Johnny Carson. I really do. Yeah, there's only one. How do you do? Everybody? Not bad? All right?

We got Bears fans here and FedEx folks here, so we're gonna be awaiting the arrival of Big Bad Achim Hicks. He'll be joining the program. Were brought to you by IGS Energy. Pause Ranger Engineer Adam Stidzinski. Our producer at our Score Studios and good to have you. And while we await a key, let's talk news of the day, News of the day. Practice today. Still no a Kilil Mack,

no Alan Robinson. We still do not see any definitive information on Kyle Long and what his injury to his right foot is actually going to entail in terms of time away. And then a new addition to the injury report, no practice today for the rookie defensive lineman Balow Nichols. Just your overall thoughts on all that as we get

ready for the Bills. You know, first near and dear to my heart is the Kyle Long injury because I saw the effort he put in throughout the off season and throughout training camp to be ready to go out there and play once the regular season got here. And I keep saying it's a different one if you're playing on an All Pro level or a Pro Bowl level, and Kyle was playing at an all pro level. I mean he added that he added that strength to the inside he and a lot to the guys inside the

locker room and all of his teammates. So it's really unfortunate when you see a guy like that get injured.

But if you play long enough, one of those injuries are going to haunt you, whether it's Peewee high school or professional for And when you say one of those injuries, what are you referring to, Well, you know, as a guy that's really invested himself in the organization and the organization is invested in him, He's gone through a lot through the other injuries he's faced to come out here and play at the power and the level he has

the ability to play at. Because if you don't dedicate yourself one hundred percent of the offseason, you're never gonna play during the regular season. And that's one thing that I really admired about Kyle is is what the way he you know, took over and was able to come back and function as one of the most powerful offensive linemen after going through the injuries. And the fact is, you know, because you've played it in a way that

none of us can even understand. You put yourself out there every day and you played through a lot of pain. You still experience a lot of pain after the fact. You never complain about it. But his injuries were severe, they were severe, They were very difficult to overcome and not everybody would have. Not everybody can, and not everybody would be willing to go back out there and do

it all over again. But you know, that's the thing that why his teammates respect him so much, because they you know, when they're going to get their ankles tape before practice. He's the guys that's going through rehab for four or five six hours a day, every day throughout the entirety of the pre surgery to get prepared to have surgery, and then the post surgery effort that you have to put into it. And so these guys aren't they're not numb to what he and committed to be unready. Yeah,

and that was a roll up injury, right. We like to say, you know, it gets the trash. You're trying to work through the trash, and sometimes you know it's friendly fire. Yeah, running back runs into you or a teammate runs into you. That's happened many times. I'm trying to remember specifics too. And he just got named offensive line coach in Dallas and that's Mark Colombo and he get you know, hit from behind. John Alred member John

Alread the tight end. You always say it was most manned hours lost to injuries a tight end position, and we've seen what's happening is Zach Miller here and over the years those rolled up injuries. You know what it is? Dangerous one up. Yeah, Dick sNaN Felt, our offensive line coach, you always used to have a saying, keep your head up, in your feet moving when you're playing in sports and

you have a chance of being in a pile. If you stop your feet, that's when you have a greater chance of being fell on and that can be injury. That can hurt you, injure you. And so that's why you gotta keep your feet churning. You got to keep your head up. And I know it sounds a little

bit more, but you really do. We we were in practice one time when William Perry was playing fullback and we are going through short yardage goal line period and Stefan Humphreys got stalemated at the line and practice and Fridge went into him and fell on him and did the same thing that the Kyle was. Do you have anything close to that? No, I mean I personally I

tore my planner fashiit. But that was during a play, so not like having an injury that you know, tons of wait, fell on you with that type of impact. All right, Well, the good news is they do have depth. They have depth. They believe him on the interior of the line. So James Daniel's getting his first NFL start last week at left guard. I'm assuming he will stay there at Cody White Harett center, and then Eric Cush

Brian Whitzman the two options at right guard. Also, you still have Bradley soul on this roster who can play multiple positions. He's a good swing veteran that you can put anywhere, and he's certainly been a factor in that extra attacker on the offensive line. The thing about Whitzman, he has experience in the system, so he knows it very well thirteen starts last season for Kansas City, and

Eric Cush obviously knows it very well as well. He was limited today still with the next stinger working through that, but he should be available well. Best case scenario would be that Eric Cush would be able to go into the right guard line up and stay there for the rest of the year and turns until Whitzman really gets up the speed. It would be difficult if he went into Buffalo under that at a hostile environment. The changes that they're trying to interrupt your blocking schemes with upfront

by the movement of their bodies. You want to make sure that you have guys that have repetitiously done it before throughout this system, but you might not have that luxury. So I think, no matter what Harry he said, the offensive line coach will have these guys prepared well, and he does a great job. I mean that mess around. The demeanor of all these guys too, is what you want as interior offensive linemen. These guys are not finessed playing,

you know, any of them. The thing about injuries is, um, you know, I was a guy that sat there and not waiting for someone to get injured. But I knew in my chants or my number was called, you had to be ready. And so you have these guys that they got to be sitting on their edge of the seat exactly waiting for what happened to Kyle. It happens, unfortunately,

they got to be ready to go. And it's not something that you got to be, you know, kind of encouraged to go in or be excited about your opportunity. This is what you play for and prepare for your whole life. And you know guys that have been sitting, you know, sitting waiting for their opportunities for quite a period of time, and then when they're they're opportunity unity has presented. We've seen guys that aren't ready, but we see guys that the reason they're in the NFL is

for that opportunity. All right, Well, sitting into the big chair and joining us here. I don't know how long we got before we take a break, but I Kim Hicks, everybody getting a nice round of applause. Thank you for joining us. The fans are here, Kim, how you doing nice? And late? Nice? Well, you know, I'll leave that up to Tom to discuss. Tom is very particular about timing. Well.

I was just trying to explain that, you know, once the game concludes in the week, begins your hand and itinerary for the week, and you kind of have every increment of time spelled out for you, so you kind of know what's going on. Hey, I saw a video of you from September when you had your longer hair. When did you cut your hair? Shoot? I want to say it was like week three or four? How come it was time for a change, man? I just I felt like I was looking too rough. My mom didn't

like it, so she wants the beard going too. But we'll see, right, a lot of people I've seen him, You've seen pictures with him without it, and I would not recognize. Well you would because you're you're a big dude. So you know what you're gonna do. You know you're gonna you know you that's a chem walking hey, But you would, I swear to you. And I've seen pictures without any facial air. You got a baby face going on. Well you you look like a young man without a beard.

I look like I'm twelve years old. Honestly. Is that why you have it? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, it definitely is. But I did get one thing. My dad gave me a butt chin. So if I shaved this office right there, you could wipe this office. All right. Well a keem, We're gonna take a break. We'll get reset, and we'll dig in and talk about the twenty eighteen Chicago Bears and how things are going for you with our studio audience. Here. We're brought to you by IGS Energy. This is Bears

All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The Score and Welcome back to Bears All Access frost to you by IGS Energy, your cloud partner with Chicago Bears, providing electricity, natural gas, and home warranty products over one million customers across the country. Learn more about IGS Energy at igs dot com. Jeff Joniac and Tom Fair with you until seven o'clock tonight, joined by defensive li'm at a chem off to another great start this season with the four

and three Bears head of the Buffalo on Sunday. And there have been a lot of different statistical organizations that come up with all sorts of formulas to describe offenses and defenses in the league. Right now, it's just not the NFL stats that are put out. But there's a lot of love right now for the Chicago Bears defense, as you've seen on Twitter, and we've retweeted some of these things, well well deserved. I mean, this defense is

playing some really good football. I think so too, man deservingly. So I think that we're getting some national recognition based on just the play and the intensity that I think our defense is playing with. I think that we've got eleven guys that are just hungry and at anytime somebody can make a play, and it's it's a fantastic situation to being as a defensive linement because they're locking up coverage back there and you get a chance to rush.

Khalil gets a chance to rush. It's it's a it's awesome. But you know when you look at a team's preparation to block the Chicago Bears, they start the protection against you and then they kind of move it up and

down the line of scrimmage. So as the season to tear or the seasonal winds on and you get more depth into the offensive line, is there ever a chance for a Keem Hicks to rush against the weak link or move around and see if you see something on film that maybe this guy doesn't have the experience that give you better opportunity. It would be nice. And you know what, I see it across the league all the time. I see guys going for the weak link, you know,

on the offensive line. They'll find a guard and they'll say, hey, man, he looks soft and he looks like we can take advantage of him, so they'll put their best rusher on him. And that's not really hasn't really been our manstre here since since I've been here, it's really take your match up and kick his butt and no matter who it is. And you know, I take pride and then I take pride in being able to line up against whoever's out there and saying I'm going to be the better man today.

You know, me thinking about that is because one of the first time I did a radio show with you back at Oliver and Nazarene, I said, you have comparisons to Reggie White, And this past week on third and one, you used to move that Reggie White is famous for. You dominated the guy you made a tackle for a loss, and it's something that gets played and replay videos throughout the rest of your career and all over the league. It's something you thought about or was it just instinct

that you used it? I felt and we had we had really good keys um this past week against the Jets and um. You know something that I gave a lot of credit to Jay Rodgers on this my position coach, just because he's I have never had a coach that is as prepared as he is coming into a game.

And he gives me so many tips as far as you know what I can expect on certain blocks and I knew for sure that that tackle was coming down to hit me, and I just gave him what he wanted came in there, you know, I gave him a little bit of me talking about the hull. He has a move that Reggie, Reggie White startup. There's a couple of other other guys that use it too. It's called

a hum who was where? If I'm an offensive lineman and I'm getting my momentum going this way, a keem picks me up with his arm, continues my momentum going and I can't recover. But Reggie, why did it? There was another guy that New Orleans says, jump jump jumping Gathers was unbelievable at it. So, but you gotta you have to have a unique style and strength. And you know, it's funny that when I talked about you and Reggie years ago and then I saw you use that movie,

it was really as going wild there. That's a you know, just a sign of what he's able to do. What Reggie was able to do. You know, you make me blush every time you say I just love for people that don't know, Reggie White is the best defensive lineman ever played this game. And anytime you get compared to somebody as great as he is. I just I melt

a little bit for Tom here. But yeah, well, you know it's funny because I was watching these two guys signed autographs during the commercial break right there, and uh, Tom, who was super strong as a player and a big guy, and now he's reduced into my size comparatively speaking to a Keim's he's like two of you right now. And so I'm thinking, how would Tom block this guy, or how it would akeem rush against Tom ed guard. It

would be an interesting vicious collision. It would be a battle because I know, just from talking to him several times, I just know he has a mentality that wants to attack people. And I would just be hesitant to just go in there and throw anything on the table. Cut first, you would be cutting. It's different the snap count that the way we use the snap count back in that generation is different than the way they use the snap

count now. So for me, I would get my hands to a keem to try to stop any momentum that he had before he'd get off the ball, because if he got momentum, it's over the thing. If I would try to jump the snap count and get to you. You see what I told you, He's already thought about it. He's already thought about how he would beat me. Look, I gotta watchop for guys like that. But you know, you study though, you study tape, and you you know

what you're looking for. To you'd be finding whatever. I'm not suggesting you had any any inequalities in his game or any holes in his game that you would try and poke if you're studying his tape. If I'm studying his tape, I'm throwing power at Tom because I'm trying to beat aggressiveness with aggressiveness, you know what I mean. Because I like to feel like I am the stronger person out there and so which it may not be true, right, but I like to feel that way. He's giving you

a lot of credit on this show. We talk about you a lot, and you know, when we're talking without offensive lineman and have been on the show or whatever, you can tell, like you brought up, you could tell when a chem Hicks is ready to let it loose it time goes just like here it comes the truck, right. That's what you know in my evaluation of watching opponents throughout the season. Then you kind of read and okay,

where is their interruption? And the starters of offensive lineman And having played against Reggie White, and you knew if he lined up, if he lined up on you the first third and long, it was kind of a oh moment, and you better do something or else He's gonna be there all day. And then I'll move up and down the line of scrimmage. So it'd be interesting if Akam had that right to evaluate, find and then attack. Well, Vic's moving you guys am out a little bit right,

definitely in some of our packages. And I'm not going to divulge any you know, information that we need to keep secret, but I would say that Vick is one of my favorite defensive coordinators ever. Not I'm not just saying that because I get to play in this scheme, but I watched him back when he was in San Francisco and just how he had those guys just coming off the ball, hitting blocks and just making plays. And I was so excited when I came here to be able to try to be the next Justin Smith, You

know what I mean? Yeah, the crazy thing. You mentioned Coach Rodgers too, and Coach Rogers was a college quarterback. He's teaching defensive line play to me, and he's outstanding at it. We both have thrown him many accolades for what he's done with this unit. He does so with an intensity that you can only appreciate being in the room, but I can see it. To me, that's one of the most unique aspects of this particular coaches. That he

was a quarterback. I'd never seen it, and when I first learned that, I was like, I don't know how, I how this is going to work out. But man, when you see his intensity on the field, when you see his intensity every day in practice, like he has his sayings, his bring the juice, and he brings that dang juice every day and you know some days you're like, oh, man, can we have like a diet drink today? But he wants the juice and he likes to go after and

then he's a really good coach. You know. It's different coaching you with the skill that you that you met him with. It's different when he coaches Bal Nichols or Roy Robertson Harris because you can see growth in their fundamentals and the techniques that they use to have successful plays. And I think it's more interesting when you see these young guy from Delaware, Roy Rob who hasn't really had to you know, been able to stay at one position for a long time. To watch those guys develop, because

that's what's gonna make the Bears better. You're you are what you are, These guys, they got a lot of development to do. Yeah, man, And it's awesome to see. It's awesome to see them come along. One of my favorites to watch right now. As you mentioned below, Nichols just he's so receptive and wants to learn the game and wants to be a great defensive lineman. And when you have a guy like that, you just want to give him everything, Like I give him information that he

doesn't even want, you know what I mean. Just I'm there for everything that he needs because he seeks it out. You know that's good. Well, you know he's We had him on the show a couple of weeks ago and he said that during the preseason you made him sit down next to you on the team plane and go watch tape after games. I don't know how many guys do that. I mean, that's a heck of a gesture

on your part. So why do you do it? Because I like to um, I guess I'll say this my The way I was treated as a rookie is the way I wanted to treat my rookies. You know, when I got to that point and as rookie, I felt like there were people in my organization that wanted to see me succeed and they wanted the best for me, and they would push me to that point. And I want to return the favorite to Bill out and make sure that he gets everything that he can and learns

from the thousands of snaps that I have. You know, it's it's rare thinking because we've had guys that come through here and I remember stories players telling hey, you know what, I'm not gonna do what other players did to me and not be willing to help me because they didn't want to lose their job. I'm certain time you were that way, like you're not gonna I mean, I know you're a team guy, but you know what, I need to start, I need to plan, need to

keep my job. Was that not true? You know, hey, you always want to be a starter, and even if they you know, there's times throughout your career where they draft a guy that's they want to him to come and take your job. And it is the political season, isn't it time there with the political answer? I want to exactly all right, We're gonna take a step away here a Keem Hicks with Tom There and Jeff jonih Act.

Thanks for joining us here on Bears All Access here from P and C Studios at have us All on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy strac This segment, it Bears All Access, is orchestrated by CDW CDW people to get it. Jeff, Jonny Ack and Tom There here at PANC Studios at Abasas with some folks and FedEx customers with FedEx here live our first studio show. Couldn't have picked a better guest to Keen Hicks to join us, because you know, no matter what, you're the engine that actually starts that defense.

In my opinion, you could say Danny Tivit Trevathan is also one of the heartbeats of that defense, and he is he gets you guys all lined up. But the emotion, the physicality of the actual, the just the energy of that defense, I believe it starts with you. Is that is that? Is that a title you're okay with? I'm very okay with it. I like to be uh, I like to be the the aggressor. I like to be the one in there calls and havoc. And I think that when you do that, I think that it gives

your defense a boost. Right, we get that momentum, we're we're telling the offense that you're not going to come in here and run, You're not gonna come in here and pass, You're not going to do the things that you want to do, and we're going to take that away from me. And I think that starts with the defense having great energy. Can I follow up that one question?

Then if we take a temperature of the Bears on defense on any given Sunday, and if your temperature isn't exactly where it's where you want it to be, would we be able to say, Okay, the defense is just not homing today. Maybe a keeam needs to you know, do this that or the other thing. Or there's a way that these guys are you know, getting you out of the out of the defense and making plays by the way they scheme against you. Have you seen teams do that to you yet? Oh? That I definitely feel

like it's a sign of respect. Right when you when you get schemes to that, Taylor, you out of the out of the game plan, you know what I mean. And I think that with the camaraderie that we've established and the culture that we've established, we got ten other guys out there that will tell your head off or they get a chance. So we're okay with it. Okay. I got a backtrack one more time. This season, you had a wild moment when you got ejected and it was to us in the stands, to you, and there

was a big fine that went along with it. What did you teach yourself? What did you learn from that? And what are you going forward? How do you prevent that? First? I seed you, but you don't have a history of that, Okay, so exactly, Yeah, that's what I'll start with. Um, I'm not a guy that gets a lot of flags. I'm not a guy that's ever been a jecked out of a game playing since I was fourteen. Um, you know, there's no pointing fingers. It was an unfortunate situation on

the field. There were emotions flying. Me and the guard had had gotten to a little tussle and uh, one of the referees hopped in between and he got you know, you got some aggression out of that pile of people, and I caught the bullet, so I had to go home.

It was a very disheartening feeling and it was very humbling. Um, you know, I take I take pride in being you know, super emotional and passionate about the sport, right and um, you just got to make sure that you keep it in check so when when an official does jump in there, he doesn't get a taste of what you're trying to give to the guard. You know, it's weird because salaries and those types of things are printed in the newspaper

and people get to read it. For an old guy, you know, that's one fourth of my salary my first year, and so it's but it's more. But it's not that, it's just more of I guess we see the emotions that you bring to the football field, and you know, once you go through that one time in your career, is that something you got to leave that behind. There's

nothing worse than showering by yourself. And it may sound funny, but at the end of the game, right you know, when you come in at halftime and you're in there by yourself, and the shower is just hitting you and you're saying to yourself, Wow, I'm going it's it's a horrible feeling and I'm sure nobody wants to taste again. And that was really the message that I gave to the team after the situation had happened. It was just that, you know, the younger guys and everybody in the room,

just take this lesson for everybody. I'll take this one, but we just can't let it happen to another one of us again. So that's a great message coming from a senior leader inside the locker room, going, look, don't do this because this is not the way to go. And it probably it carries a lot of weight in there. Did you hang around after the did you wait to the game was over to? Yeah? You couldn't out? Yeah,

I couldn't leave my guys there. It was just, you know, it's kind of one of those things where you know, you getting pulled away, You're like, no, wait, I still got a little bit more, but um, you know you just have to uh, you just have to take it on the chin and and be better next time. I really enjoyed what Vic Fangio today talked about. He doesn't think it's proper to see his guys losing money. And uh, he doesn't think the Eddie Jackson hit, for example, last

week is a findable offense. And I don't know if he is or if he will be, but he got flagged um for his hit, and you know, he says the same thing about you. So there are certain things that you want from your coaches and that kind of support. He did so very directly, which we know him to be, uh, and I do. I do appreciate that aspect of a coach looking out after his guys. There's never been a day on this team where I didn't feel like Vic

Fangio was in my corner, you know. And that says something that makes as a player, that makes you want to play even harder for him because you know, at the end of the day, he wants the best for you. Um. And just a little bibit about what you said about being one fourth the salary. Now we do get paid more, but they also find us a lot more. I think it's unfair too. I hate to see that what you players go through in the terms of them finding it.

They took a fully loaded Nissan Ultimate from me, so he couldn't fit it, but I couldn't fit it, but it'd be nice to have. Sometimes the finds are warranted, right, sometimes they are. In this league, I think there are some egregious actions out there on the field, and they got to be really egregious. They got to be something like, you know, trying to put a guy in the headlock

and take his helmet off. But during the course of let's just take pass rush for instance, right, Leonard Floyd came in on a pass rush and he beat his guy and he's going there and he touches the top of the guy's helmet. I think it was in Miami supposed to rush with their hands up. What do you do? Right? And so at this point it's just it gets kind of frustrating. But the thing is you have to play within the rules of the game. You don't have a choice.

Have you ever lost any momentum because you know, sometimes people are really luctant to hit the quarterbacks hard. Are you still playing initially with the same momentum you've always played with, and then maybe control depending upon how you're

getting blocked to flow the play. It's now it's turned into one of the scariest feelings in the world to just have the quarterback, you know, dead in your sights and you've beat your guy and you come off your block and you're saying to yourself, oh, I'm gonna tattoo them. And you get there and you're like, oh, man, I gotta pull this off and maybe fall to the side a little bit so I don't catch a fine. But you know, the early highlights of you throughout the season,

the conclusion of your tackles are really violent. Whether you're throwing around Josh Rosen or Aaron Rodgers, or it's a running back that you get behind the line of scrimmage, it's got to be the intent to conclude them with emphasis. I started playing football because you got to hit people, right. I enjoy running full speed and throwing my body and

the somebody else. I don't know if there's something wrong with me because of that, but I'll say this, it does take a little bit of, like you said, momentum off your your your play off the game, and I'm

sure the fans want to see us hit people hard, right. Okay, Well, we talked about bringing back the monsters in the midway defense, that physicality that inmidation, that you want teams to know that they're gonna feel you as they leave Soldier Field when loser draw, and you know that kind of flies in the face with I had a conversation with some folks today about how many years we've been calling games and do you feel the brutality of the game, And it was brought to my focus because of the injury

to Kyle Long and what it sounded like over the parabolic mic. I just asked that the mic be turned away because he was screaming. I mean, he was in a lot of pain, and so, yeah, you have to respect. I think there's a respect level there. But that doesn't mean I don't love hard hits, right. I love the physicality the game as a fan, as an announcer, and the game is still rough, right. This is week eight, and I know I was late coming in here because I was trying to get in the hot tub loosing

up my back. But it's just the game is still rough, right, The game is still hard hitting, but you know there's an aspect that's been taken away and we'll see how the rules play out. Would you have been fined by any chance last year in New Orleans when your engine was running hot because there was the Saints for a lot of different reasons, and your rag dog drew Breeze down to the ground and got to him. Would you you think that would have been a flag last year?

I will buy five new fully loaded Ultimates if I can hit your breezes again. It's one of my favorite things to do. So I would have taken the fine happily last year, but that would be this year in the playoffs when you get the chance. So listen, I mean, do you from the time you you know you in good times in bad you're a believer. You're a believer in your guys, whether they're winning or not. You're a

believing in your guys. But there are certain times when I can just see it on your face when not that you never meant it before you do mean what you say, But you really have a lot of love for this group of guys, not just the defensive players, but the locker room. When did that kick in for you for this edition of Bears? When did you know it? Because I think there's a lot of guys that know it.

There's something special about an NFL locker room. You can attest to this just in general and you've seen it a million times yourself. There's something special about a NFL locker room and being around your boys all day and working together and grinding together, winning games, sometimes losing games. You have that brotherhood established. And just being here for my third year with the Bears and having the same guys around me for the most part, it's, uh, we

just get closer and closer. For instance, tonight, we're having dinner at my house right my girlfriend's cooking lasagna and we're gonna sit there, we're gonna tear it apart and talk some trash, and it's just that that that fellowship. It's just it just means so much. And when you step on the field and and there's a play and you want to make a play for your boy, make a play for your guy, and just have fun together. Man. You know it's cool about this defense is you're being

complimented by the development of this offense. And you could see this months ago when you guys are on one side of the ball and your your defense is getting better than you see what this offense is doing, what their capabilities are. So that's got to be even more fun for the defense to be great because what this offense is going to provide. It's awesome. We actually get a break this year. We get to come off the field for a couple of plays. Um Our offense is

just firing on all cylinders. It's something that Naggie is brought here. Just you know, there's a there's an element of just swagger and and excitement behind their offense because you never know who's going to get the ball. You never know how this play is gonna happen. I remember we was the first play in Green Bay that came out in the T formation. Like it's just it's awesome. Man. Our offense is rolling in. As a defense, you just get behind that and keep him out of the end

zone and you can win a lot of games. What old school Jersey? Did you pick? Mike Singletary? He did? I had to. I got to meet Mike Singletary in New Orleans in my third or fourth year and he was in the building and I happened to be passing by, and I came in the D line room and we

just sat there and talked for like forty minutes. And I don't know if he remembers it, but it meant a lot to meet because it was somebody that I grew up, you know what I'm saying, Like watching the NFL films and seeing this guy in his intensity and how he played, and I just have a lot of respect for that, and even more so after getting a

chance to sit on and speak with him. His actual sized jersey probably wouldn't fit you without shoulders that he had shoulder pads underneath, because he's not a big guy, but I mean he is. I always say he's one of the most well prepared, professionally dedicated athletes I've ever been around. Yeah, yeah, did you guys genuinely appreciate that? By the way, the Legends uniforms, what was the buzz light?

What was a buzz of seeing those guys in their cheese and familar to hear just because they get you know, it's it's like something from the past and you get to pull that and you get to wear it, and it's just there was a feeling behind I think Nagi knew what he was doing. Well, you gotta get these things signed and frame, then that's that's that's memory, right, Giving it a shot, Give it a shot. A Keem Hicks our guest here on bears All Access here until

seven o'clock tonight on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The score M there and now you're doing it. Keep it going, man, you want to read the spot too. The Chicago Bears Network presents Inside the Bears, brought to you by a Verizon. Anthony Adams and Lauren Screeden cover the world of Bears football on it off the field every Sunday night. It eleven o five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago. I watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot com or on the Bears official app. Jeff and Tom here with a Keem Hicks.

I mentioned Anthony Adams. I gotta share one quick funny story. I think it's funny anyway. So we're on a Bears trip this summer to Punta Kana and at the end of the trip there was a Q and a session with Kim and some of the fellas. Uh Adrian Amos was there, and Marcus Cooper and who else was there? Charles Leno, Charles Leno yes, and then uh, and so I'm going through my questioning and all that, and all of a sudden I say, hey, you know, I don't know if you heard the news today, but Anthony Adams

was named the Bear's new defensive line coach. And you should have seen the look on A Kim's face. He's like looking around, is this really? All the guys are talking? And I had them going, I had him, had him cold. I'm asking, you know, comment on Anthony Ban your defensive line coach. And he answered the question like, why did you do that? I thought it was funny. It was funny, man, it was very very funny. And Anthony Anthony, you know, I was on the trip too, so and Anthony played

it up obviously. So then all the wives and the girlfriends and friends were asking Anthony's wife, is this is it? Congratulations? You know? Can you imagine? How do you take him? Seriously? There will be so much energy in that room. I mean there would be constant laughter. I'm sure we'd find our way onto his Instagram page, but it would be awesome. Everybody enjoyed that. But Jay Rodgers the only one I didn't get a kick out that give away. Your own

journey had play. That's a fair point, big Tim. Uh so. Uh. We talked a lot about the defense and about the chemistry of this football team, but we have you have to talk about the man that's stirring the pot. And that's the head coach, Matt Naggy. Just what he's doing, the buttons he's pushing, uh, the energy with which he comes to work every day, what he's like on the sideline. We got a little snippet of it fans did or what a sideline demeanor is. I don't know if you

caught it. He was miked up during the game against the Jets. So he's fiery, and he's instructive, and he's motivational, and he had a great moment with Mitch Trubisky saying, Hey, I want greatness out of you here in the second half, and yes, sir, and went out had a much better second half. I mean, for a young guy forty years of age in his first NFL head coaching job, do you feel he's pressing a lot of the right buttons

that a veteran coach might even do. No question, no question. Um, you know, it was my first time having a transition like that as far as you know, having a new head coach right in the middle of you know what my contract. And I wasn't scared, but I didn't know how I would be perceived or how I would perceive him. When he got here, I think that he instantly showed everybody in the room that he was prepared to be a head coach. And he's shown that week end and

week out. Now, everybody makes mistakes, and when he makes a mistake, he calls on himself and he says he owns it in front of the team. And there's something, there's a character that that that goes with, and you know, as a player, you have to respect it. And I just think that he's done a great job of creating this locker room, creating this team, and having us in

the right places to be successful. You know, Ryan Pace has done a nice job of bringing in high character guys, both of offensive free agents, and then they went out and drafted Roquan Smith. Tell us a little bit about his development, because what we see from a Bob is impressive. He can ron, he's a great athlete, he's intelligent, he's dedicated. He's got a guy like Danny Trevathan to learn from.

But in the huddle, what do you see the differences from when he got here after his contract situation to where he is now. He reminds me of a lot a lot of Balah Nichols. He's just he's receptive, he wants the information, he wants to be a good football player. And when you have a guy that's self motivated, he can go so much further than somebody that you have to push every step of the way. And I think that he showed that when he first got here, and

he's shown that every week to this point. You know Tom had in their day, they had to watch tape as a team after games, win, lose, or whatever. And I don't know that that's always been the case here, But if it hasn't, do you like it that way? I think that you have to have a good mixture of the of both of them. I think that you know, when you're separate and you get a chance to watch it with just your defense and just offense, that's great.

But also when you come back in from a hard week and you get a chance as a team to sit here and watch you know, Trey Burton have five catches for one hundred yards and you get to watch there coo and go crazy. It's just awesome to see that side of the ball, you know in depth, and watch their good plays. They're bad plays too, right for both sides, but to just watch your teammates to be successful against other defenses. It's it's it's awesome, and it's

a great benefit for us to watch. You watch it sometimes just as a second just as defensive line, because you know, things change for us like we're watching as an offense. You know it. Coaches could be a little bit softer on you just because you're with all your peers. But when you get in that closed room where you only got the eight guys or the ten offensive lineman, the evaluation and the strictness of what's being said to you,

it is amped up a little bit. Is at the same I think that you know with with coach Nagy, we get such a mixture of the boath. Like I said previously, is that you know, we get to see those plays together and there's no softenness in in in Coach Nage easy. He lets you know how it is, straightforward. He's um, it's good, it's good. Let's live it at that. You've had a lot of you've had a lot of

different types of coaches already in your career. With three stops uh from the legendary Bill Belichick, Sean Payton also an outstanding coach to being here with John Fox and now being here with with Matt Nagi. Um, you'll learn something from everybody that has infiltreated, infiltrated the way you play the game in any way, or learned the game. Most definitely, I try to take something from everybody that

I come in contact with, especially when it comes to football. Um. I think that you know, I had certain lessons when I was in New Orleans, certain lessons when I was in New England, and uh, you know, then coming here and having coach Fox, you know, coach has been coaching the Leaf for thirty years and just seeing everything and anything, you know from both sides of the ball it. Um, It's been a great ride for me and I've got to to learn under some of the best coaches in

the league. I thought it was great that Coach Nagie, when he did get highter as a head coach, that he was mature enough to keep Vic Fangio here because a lot of guys that you know, they you don't want to be in the same age group. But it's a lot of respect that Matt has for Vic to be able to continue the process that he started with

you guys a couple of years ago. I think that he knew that it was necessary for us to have, you know, that continuity on that side of the ball, because we had played good football over the past couple of years. Do we have the results in the games that we wanted? No? But did we play good, hard football being coached by Big Fangio. We sure did, all right. You know we talked about Bala Nicholson before the season. You were also very high, and so was Tom. Anybody

in the nineties on the team he wanted. He thought it was important at the nineties became the number nineties allus you guys would be really significantly improving. You know, these young guys Bullard I'm talking about, and Roy Robertson Harris and Eddie Goldman, and that would be one of the major keys for the season. Do you see all

of that happening? I was definitely do. I was so happy when they, you know, extended Eddie, just to know that I'll have a guy next to me for the next few years, that it's going to dominate centers across the league. It's phenomenal. All right, let's take a break. We got one more segment to go with a Keem Hicks. The Bears defensive lineman. I mean he's already. I'm telling you he's got Pro Bowl written all over him this year, There's no question about it. I'll go do you name it.

Things are looking good for the Bears. We'll have more coming up on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score, and we got to thank a Keen Hicks's ruining us tonight here on Bears All Access. Ruth's Chris would like to have you except this one hundred dollars gift certificate to enjoy one of their chicagol That area steakhouses, and not because you were unfortunately fine. You know, this is just their very good generosity. But

you can't beat the steak obviously. Thank you, Chris, Ruth. Chris, Yes, So enjoy, enjoy, have a good time, and enjoy on Bears All Access here a few more minutes with a team Hicks. So it's off the Buffalo. Without having looked at your playing career, obviously played in the EFC, so I don't know if that was in time enough to

go to Buffalo. But have you been to Buffalo if you played in Buffalo, because I don't know that you have I don't think that I have all these years start running together after while, you know, But I don't think that I've been to Buffalo. Yeah, the stadiums. I haven't been to our Buffalo, the Redskins and San Diego. Okay, well you won't be going to San Diego White four more years maybe maybe, But it is an experience. It's you know, it's small town obviously, but it's a it's

a football town. So Matt Negge has preached from the moment he started the Coaches Show on Monday night. Uh man, he's serious. These fans are are into it. It's going to be loud, it's going to be a blue collar atmosphere from the Buffalo Bills. Is that, in fact what he's been hammering in your heads? As well as a football team, Oh, most definitely, most definitely. He is um.

He said, it's a small town feel kind of like going into Green Bay and you know, you just you're going through the neighborhoods and you just come up on the stadium and so I'm excited to see it. And I even heard actually today, I think it was somebody in the media. I said that they jumped through tables. They do a lot do these backflops. You know, which was weird for me and during my career, is this is going to be your first four quarter game on AstroTurf.

All the other games so far that you have played has been on natural surface, even in Arizona. For me, it was weird playing my first regular season game on turf then, because I really like natural grass a lot more. Are you a natural grass guy? Do you feel faster on turf? Because it affected some guys differently that I played with it. They felt swifter on AstroTurf. You know, the the the wide receivers and the dbs, they all rave about playing on fast grass and stuff like that.

For defensive linement and offensive linem we just want to be able to get our cleatsnea ground and hit somebody in the mouth. So I love natural grass and you get a little bit more DG you know, when you're taking on those double teams, you get a dig in the ground, and you know, it's just it's a different field. That's how we grew up playing right on regular grad right, but you know, not having the opportunity since the preseason and only playing none or a couple of snaps, it's different.

When you have, now, what the seventh eighth game of the year, and this is your first turf game, it is different. So with the Bills, you know, I guess maybe I'm being naive, I don't know, but this Bears team is a young, hungry bunch. There's a few veterans like yourself obviously, that are knocking on thirties door. I don't know that you hit that yet, right, wait a second, But anyway, the point is that I don't think this team is capable of overlooking an opponent because, honestly, there's

still a waste to go for you guys. You guys know that too. You guys have still a lot to prove to yourselves, let alone to fans and everybody in this building. So when I see a two in whatever football team that has problems at quarterback, yeah I get it. But they've already beaten the minute the Vikings. They've already beaten Tennessee when they were in first place. So they are capable despite what we perceive as their limitations. Is

that how you approach this. Naggie has an analogy is talking about teams that you know, I have been beaten a couple of times and aren't even good place to calls them a wounded dog, right, And when you get a wounded dog in the corner, what are they gonna do if you walk upon them, They're gonna try to bite you, right, And so I think our mentality going into this game is to not give them a chance to bite us and just come out there and play the best football we know how to play. And like

you said, we have a lot to prove. We have a lot to prove to ourselves. We lost two tough games in the past couple of weeks, and you know, one in Miami where their bench was shaded, but we won't talk about that, and then against New England where it was a hard fought game but we gave up two special teams touchdowns. I think that, you know, for this team, we really feel like we have you said it a lot to prove to ourselves and to our fans. Well,

you're just gonna play your system. That's the thing that Matt Naggie has been preaching every week is offensively speaking, it's not necessarily who you're playing, and it's how your offense is going to improve the next week. And it's got to be the same for the defense because with the pieces you have in place, the interchangeable parts, the guys moving around, it's the same process is making sure you play good defensive system football against the opponent you're

playing against. And it's a message that I drive home to our guys on the defense is that it's about us. You know, any team could step out there and do what they want to do, but it's about us at the end of the day. How are we playing our blocks, How are we getting to the ball? How are we taking away the ball? You know, how we perform is going to dictate this game. Are you as loud as you've ever been in the locker room now? Meaning you have a you have a bear voice? How are you

and are you embracing that? Yeah? How do you do it? I definitely am um. You know, there's a there's a small amount of wizard that comes with, you know, playing the NFL for seven years and and playing thousands upon thousands of snaps. You you just you've seen it before. You've seen a lot of things before that guys haven't seen, and you know it's it's it's really it's very humbling to have guys come to you and look for guidance in certain situations. So I'm definitely embracing my role and

just trying to perform like everybody else. Do you dance when the disco ball goes up? And yeah, I mean you got to celebrate your wins. Man, I'm giving it all I got. I get more tired sometimes in the locker room than I do in the game. Just a little bit of the footage we see, I mean, it's it's a group, it's a it's a great it's a great atmosphere, and it's fun. Just not having been a part of that, you know, being a big guy back in the day, I would have been in the background,

not dancing. It's new to me. It's new to me to have that type of celebration in the locker room after. But I can see the benefits, you know, when you go out there and you lay it all out on the field for four quarters and you come in there victorious and your guys are there and you the energy is good, turn the music on, the light start flash, and I can't help me. Well, I can't wait to see the video, and I can't wait for you to experience it. When you have what you would call a

signature win for the season. That kind of is a benchmark moment for the team to go take themselves to the next level. That's want it will really like. You'd be looking forward to getting in there for sure most definitely once we uh, you know, the team that plays the best ball in December gets that opportunity, you know, so we got to go. I believe, I do believe.

I hear it all the time, you know, if you if you love the game, you'll listen to some of the stars of the game that have experienced great success. And Tom Brady always talks about it really doesn't get

started until around Thanksgiving. And I went back last week and I went back and looked at Matt Neeggie's experience in Philadelphia and Kansas City after about in November twentieth, and in almost every case the records were five and two, seven and one, six and three, eight game winning streak here, five game winning streak here. Because that's really when it gets serious. Tom and I laughed about it the other day at season hasn't even started yet. You gotta be

in you gotta be in the conversation. You can't be like Oakland and San Francisco tonight exactly but so you you you punch your way through the tough spots and you try to round into shape at some point and become a team with a certain identity which I don't even know if you your identity yet, honestly do you

as a team probably still being team. We're chosling things out, but as a defense because I can only speak to defense, because that's where I put my work in at UM as a defense are I think that we are very established as far as what we want in the culture that we have in this building. We are coming out to hit you. We're coming out to hit you, and

we want you to feel every piece of it. It's nice to see that everybody's a part of that because you can you look at a guy like Bryce Pan and the opportunities he's given, whether he's running through bodies and making a hit at the line of Scrimmager, it seems like everybody's all in. And that's that's the neat thing to see, is everybody is kind of fulfill their agreement with the guys in the locker room by show

and we're gonna do what's asked of us. It's it's it's an awesome thing to see to watch this see because they didn't just start this year, right and if this has been growing in our locker room, right in our defensive room, point you know what I mean. It's it's something that we've gotten to. Like, we worked to get to this point to where when teams come to play us, sayre like, oh man, dude, they're gonna hit us in the mouth. Um. We love that feeling and

we want to continue that. Who are tightess with on the team right now? Oh man, I've had a lot of guys that I really like to leave. Drell Freeman left, Willie Young left, Pnemi Fie left, my guy, You're the guy now? But who hangs out with the key guys? Talk about hold I am one more time. It's the experienced part of it, because when you talk about those guys, they have a great deal of experience in their NFL lifetimes. Yeah. What I'll say is my guy on the locker room

right now is a Danny True eight than man. He just he just has my back. I got his back, man, And it's a great relationship to have with your middle linebacker. Yes, oh man. We just look out for each other on and off the field. It's It's a great love how he plays love, his emotion and energy and his h want to each and every Sunday. All right, we look forward to watching you against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Thank you for taking the time and joining us tonight.

Thank you, Kim Hicks. Everybody Bears defensive lineman here on Bears All Access. Thanks as always to Jordan tread Up. Thanks to pauls Ran rangineer at Adam Chauzinski in our Score Studios for a Keiman tempt there. I'm Jeff Joe Act. Have a good night, everybody. Bears Bill Sunday nine am pregame and a new kickoff on WBBM. Good night. Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears

All Access. Podcasts are available on Chicago Bears dot com and on iTunes or download the official Bears mobile app. Bears All Access has been brought to you by IGS Energy and sponsored by CDW, Athletico Physical Therapy and Ford