By Blessing 
Detroit Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson has been trying to tune out the conversations swirling around the team after Sunday’s 16-9 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. Still, it’s clear the disappointment has lingered as Detroit works to regain control of a season that once carried massive expectations.
“We’re 6-4 right now. I think people have written us off a little bit and I think it’s a good spot to be in,” Hutchinson said, acknowledging the outside noise but choosing to stay optimistic. “I’m excited and I think these next three home games we’ve got to be 3-0 and it starts with New York on Sunday.”
Detroit now prepares to host the Giants at Ford Field at 1 p.m. Sunday, a week after a grueling NFC matchup on the national stage. The Lions are trying to shake off a frustrating offensive performance that saw them go 0-for-5 on fourth down against Philadelphia. According to ESPN Research, they’re just the second team in 30 seasons to fail five or more times on fourth down in a game. The only other team to do so? The 2022 Lions under the same head coach, Dan Campbell, when they went 0-for-6 at New England.
Campbell wasn’t shy about the issues he saw in the loss. He said the Lions “were a little off” in Philadelphia as the offense posted its lowest point total since 2023. Still, he believes the doubt surrounding the team is adding fuel as Detroit tries to bounce back during a critical part of the season.
With the Giants up next, Detroit sits on the postseason bubble—an unexpected position after entering the year as one of the NFC North favorites and a popular early Super Bowl sleeper. Hutchinson knows exactly what the moment demands from the entire locker room.
“I just know that looking at the rest of our schedule, we’re at a point where we’ve got to win,” he said. “You’ve got to find a way to win even if you get in a close game, we’ve got to win all those close games if we want to do what we want to do this year.”
He added that the team isn’t shaken by outside doubt. “We all understand that, regardless of what people say about us, and I think we’ve got a great shot to do it, we’ve just got to put all the pieces together every single game,” Hutchinson said. “And even in the close games, pull them out.”
Detroit is also trying to avoid back-to-back home losses, something that hasn’t happened since October 2022. Their last appearance at Ford Field ended in a Week 9 upset at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings.
ESPN Analytics currently gives the Lions a 34% chance to win the NFC North, behind the Packers at 44% and the Bears at 22%. A victory over the Giants would bump Detroit to 39%, but a loss would drop them to 20%, independent of all other games—making every week feel increasingly urgent, even if Campbell tries to keep the team grounded.
“We’ve had urgency. We’re an urgent team. Things haven’t gone our way that we would like,” Campbell said. “I mean we would love to be sitting here undefeated right now and that’s not the reality, we’re not undefeated. But there’s an urgency that’s there.”
He warned that pushing too hard can backfire. “And I know this, if you say, ‘Well let’s ramp up more urgency,’ that’s when you start making mistakes, that’s when you start panicking, that’s when guys start doing things they shouldn’t do.”