Many believe that the Chicago Bears championship window is just opening, but that isn't how Akiem Hicks is approaching it, and he knows how important it is that the team wins now. Hicks knows that nothing is guaranteed and just because they had a chance in the playoffs last year, doesn't mean the same will be true this year.

“You don’t always get this chance,” said Akiem Hicks via Bears Wire. “You don’t get that chance, man. So you have to take advantage of it. And if you get more guys at a young age understanding that, you’ll have a better chance of getting to where you want to go.”

Hicks also knows it's important that he is the guy giving the message to the younger guys. He knows there is no guarantee that the guys will take the message, but he still needs to continue to keep speaking it and hopefully it will stick.

“There’s no guarantee,” Hicks said. “There’s no guarantee that somebody will take the message you’re trying to give. But if you just keep repeating it and keep hammering it in, hopefully enough of it will stick so that when we get to that moment and we’re in that big game like we were last year, guys are going to say, ‘Man, I don’t know if I’ll ever get back here. So I have to try to kill it right now.’”

Hicks is a key for the Bears defense, and if the team is going to make a run for that Super Bowl, he is going to need to be a key part.