The bus stops here: Statement game on tap for Bears’ defense

Bears defensive end Akiem Hicks not only wasn’t offended by coach Matt Nagy’s critique of the defense after the Bears — without Hicks — lost to the Packers 41-25 last week at Lambeau Field. He embraced it.

“I like tough coaching,” Hicks said. “I’ve always had tough coaches, and I’ve always had people that are not afraid to get after you and tell you what it is and what it isn’t. So I respect it. I enjoy it. I enjoy meeting the challenge.”

Hicks, in fact, revealed that Nagy previously had called out the defense for a shoddy performance.

“I don’t remember which game it was, but we had given up a considerable amount of rushing yards and one of the things he told us was we looked like Swiss cheese out there.”

And they didn’t revolt. On the contrary . . .

“I appreciate that,” Hicks said. “I appreciate you coming in, coming to me and telling me that I need to be better, the team needs to be better and there’s something I need to improve on. So any time that there’s tough verbiage, I enjoy it and I enjoy meeting that challenge. So I was good with it.”

This is part of Nagy’s value to the Bears as a head coach — that he can admonish his defense for a poor performance when the defense has held this team together for most of his three seasons and have their full support.

Now comes the more critical part, the one that could go a long way toward Nagy avoiding the fate of Matt Patricia and remaining the Bears’ coach for 2021: The players have to respond. They not only have to support their coach, they have to play for him.

Though Nagy was mocked for counting on his players’ pride to spark a turnaround after a five-game losing streak, pride is absolutely in play for the defense, which has a record of accomplishment to be proud of. The Bears’ defense isn’t what it was under Vic Fangio in 2018, and the loss of nose tackle Eddie Goldman has had a bigger impact than expected. But it still is in its fourth consecutive season as a top-10 unit. (Though the Bears dropped from ninth to a tie for 13th in yards, they still rank eighth in fewest points allowed after the debacle against the Packers.)

But the loss to the Packers hurt more than just dropping a few spots in the NFL statistics.

“Oh, it’s a lot of motivation,” safety Tashaun Gipson said. “We were on a big stage — ‘Sunday Night Football.’ Everybody is watching. For us to lay an egg, I think it was embarrassing for us on many different levels.

“So the bounce-back is so real, and I think that’s the beautiful thing about football: You get to erase the mistakes that you made seven days ago and reinvent yourself and get that taste out of your mouth.”

The loss to the Packers was a worst-case scenario — the Bears without Hicks against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers’ offense in a groove. Sunday’s game against the Lions is much more of a fair fight, especially if Hicks returns from a hamstring injury, as expected.

Defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano repeatedly took the blame for the collapse in Lambeau in his weekly press conference Thursday. But even then it came back to pride.

“It’s just the fundamentals and technique. That falls on me — squarely on my shoulders — to make sure we’re prepared no matter who we have,” Pagano said. “Those guys will tell you the same thing. You’re in the National Football League for a reason. You don’t just land on a team. We’ve got good enough players. The guys that are in there will play better. I know they will play better.”