Bears' Akiem Hicks After Season-Opening Loss: 'There's No Moral Victories Here'
(CBS) Bears defensive lineman Akiem Hicks doesn't have any time to hear an old cliche after his team's 23-17 loss to the Falcons in their season opener at Soldier Field on Sunday.
"Bottom line, you got to look at it real flat and simple," Hicks said in an interview on the Mully and Hanley Show on 670 The Score on Monday morning. "Bottom line is we didn't win the game. There's no moral victories here. You get to a point where you fought all you could, you gave it all you got, but you came up short. That's the reality of it. So what you do is you go back in the lab and figure out a way so you don't ever come up short.
"In a loss, everything becomes just a little bit clearer. So if you have a great game out there and you get a W and everything's good, it gets a little foggy. And you can't exactly figure out why you did really well, and things are going good.
"When you lose, you get to go back and focus on every point to where you could do something better and just try to turn it around."
Hicks also addressed his new four-year contract extension that he signed Saturday. It includes $30 million guaranteed and is worth up to $48 million.
"I wanted to have a home, and it looks like Chicago is my home," Hicks said.
"What's important to me is a team that is as committed to you and you are to them. And they want you to be a part of their program and invest in you. There was a good, strong front office that wanted me to be here and invest in me and wanted me to be a Bear for a long time. We got it done."
