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We’re still a few hours away from kickoff at Soldier Field between the Chicago Bears and your Minnesota Vikings in Week 4 action, but news is surfacing that the home team is going to be without a pretty big part of their defense.
Bears DT Akiem Hicks, a key part of Chicago’s run defense, is not expected to play today against Dalvin Cook and the Vikings, sources say. Hicks injured his knee in Monday Night’s game and didn’t practice all week.
— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) September 29, 2019
ESPN beat writer Dan Graziano is reporting that Bears’ defensive tackle Akiem Hicks is not going to be suiting up for today’s game.
Hicks suffered a knee injury during Chicago’s 31-15 victory over the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football, and that will (apparently) keep him sidelined for this one.
This is a pretty significant blow to a very good Bears defense. With as much attention as Khalil Mack gets. . .and deservedly so. . .it was Hicks that made things absolutely miserable for the Vikings in last year’s game at Soldier Field between these two teams. He basically lived in the Minnesota backfield in that game, and didn’t allow the Vikings to get any real push up front in the run game.
If the Vikings want to establish the run in this one, as they have in each of their first three contests, not seeing Akiem Hicks in the middle of the Chicago defense would be a big help. We’ll know for sure when the official inactive lists come out at around 2:00 PM Central.