Bears notes: Ha Ha Clinton-Dix smacks Redskins with pick-six

LANDOVER, Md. — Bears safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix picked the right time to score on defense for the first time since he was a school kid.

He ended the Redskins’ first drive by intercepting Case Keenum at Washington’s 37-yard line and taking it down the sideline for the first pick-six of his career.

“It felt good,” he said. “I haven’t had a touchdown on defense since little league, and I don’t think I even had one then.”

Keenum sailed one over wide receiver Trey Quinn, who was covered by Prince Amukamara, and it fell right into Clinton-Dix’s arms. He made it to the end zone relatively unimpeded thanks to blocks by Roy Robertson-Harris and Eddie Jackson.

Asked whether there was extra satisfaction to pick off the Redskins — for whom he played the second half of last year — Clinton-Dix smiled.

“Hell, yeah, there is,’’ he said. “Anytime you get a chance to compete against your former team, there’s always a little extra.”

Clinton-Dix, who added a second interception that he returned 59 yards in the third quarter, probably wanted similar revenge against the Packers, the team that drafted him and traded him to the Redskins after 4½ years.

“I told him I wished he would have had this game against the team up north when we were in Chicago,” Amukamara said.

Clinton-Dix has 16 career picks, but his longest return before Monday was a 27-yarder in his 2016 Pro Bowl season. That one came against Bears quarterback Matt Barkley.

Hicks hurt

Pro Bowl defensive lineman Akiem Hicks left the Bears’ locker room before the doors opened to the media, walking toward the team bus with a slight limp. He left the game after injuring his right knee.

Coach Matt Nagy put his typical optimistic spin on the outlook for Hicks.

“I don’t have anything for sure,” he said. “But I feel like he’ll be OK.”

Hicks wasn’t the only Bears star to get hurt. Taylor Gabriel, who caught three second-quarter touchdown passes, was put in the concussion protocol.

Massie missing

Right tackle Bobby Massie started to feel ill after the Bears got to FedExField and was ruled inactive.

“I think it’s a small case of vertigo,” Nagy said. “It’s not really that good when you have a guy that has to be balanced for most of the game.”

The decision came down to the hour before the Bears needed to report inactive players.

“When we got here, he came in and said he wasn’t [feeling] good; it was, ‘OK, I guess we gotta figure something out,’ ” Nagy said.

Nagy praised the play of backup Cornelius Lucas, who started for the ninth time in his six-year career.