Nine days after a blitzing win over Essendon, Adelaide - without captain Jordan Dawson (concussion) among others - slumped to a 66-point home loss to Hawthorn on Sunday, after at one stage conceding 13 goals in a row.
"As good as they were, we were as bad, in that second half especially," Nicks said.
"That's probably as bad as we've been for a number of years, unfortunately.
"We knew we had a massive challenge ahead of us and we weren't up to it in the second half."
Apart from Dawson, Adelaide were also without players including Izak Rankine (suspension), Jordon Butts (foot), Brodie Smith (illness) and Nick Murray (knee).
"There are a number of different reasons why we're not performing at our best at the moment," Nicks said.
"But unfortunately, that's probably the furthest we've been from our best, tonight."
After having high hopes in pre-season, Adelaide (7-1-11) sit 15th.
Nicks said reviews of the Crows' difficult season were ongoing.
"There's a number of areas that we're looking at closely: what takes us to that next level. That's both on and off the footy field," he said.
"And so we'll continue to do that. I think every club in the competition does it right now.
"We unfortunately can't make the finals, and so we'll continue to look at how we improve. We have to do that."
When asked if he had any doubts about himself, under pressure despite being contracted until the end of 2026, Nicks said: "We're all human.
"I'll just keep working with the group, asking them what I can do to be better as well.
"But no, I'm confident that I'm the right man for the job."
Nicks was adamant he had the cattle on hand to swing Adelaide's fortunes in 2025.
"I believe we've got the right group," he said.
"We'll need a little bit more experience under our belt. We'll get that. We'll keep working through this season and try and finish strong.
"Tonight was a was a blip on that. It's not the way we go about it, tonight.
"But we'll finish off the rest of this season strongly, so that we can go in with momentum into next year.
"We'll continue to look at getting better. As I mentioned, on and off the field, that's where we've got confidence.
"We've got some really good people at this footy club. We've got to continue now to get more in and improve the ones that we have here."
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