By Moses Joshua 
After a season derailed by injuries and missed opportunities, the Lions’ franchise pass rusher believes the path back to contention is simpler than it sounds.
The Detroit Lions weren’t supposed to be spectators in January.
After two straight division titles, a 9–8 finish in 2025 left them on the couch while familiar NFC rivals took center stage in the playoffs. For Aidan Hutchinson, that absence was jarring enough to spark some soul-searching — live on national television.
Invited to ESPN’s “NFL Countdown” set alongside Mike Greenberg, Rex Ryan, Alex Smith, Tedy Bruschi, Randy Moss and Adam Schefter, Hutchinson finally had the chance to unpack what went wrong — and more importantly, what must change.
“We Were Not Playing Complementary Football”
Asked what defined Detroit’s collapse, Hutchinson didn’t hide behind clichés.
“As a player, it really felt in those critical games, we were not playing complementary football in those moments, and that’s really on all three phases,” Hutchinson said. “It was sometimes offense, defense, special teams. It was a collective thing where little parts were letting us down and we were losing these close games. We ended up 9-8, but it just wasn’t enough to get us in. It was unfortunate, but we’re all looking forward to next year.”
It was a brutally honest assessment from the face of the Lions defense — not a finger-point, but a full-team reckoning.
Detroit didn’t lack talent. They lacked cohesion when it mattered most.
The One Fix That Matters Most
Then Greenberg asked the real question: what is the one thing the 2026 Lions must do to get back on track?
Hutchinson’s answer was immediate.
“To me defensively, it’s getting healthy. It’s getting our secondary healthy,” he said. “Get all of those guys back. And I really think we are going to have a complete defense.”
That wasn’t just optimism — it was context.
A Season Stolen by the Injury Bug
The Lions’ defense spent much of 2025 in survival mode. Key contributors rotated in and out of the lineup, including:
- Kerby Joseph
- Ennis Rakestraw
- Marcus Davenport
- Terrion Arnold
- Brian Branch
Depth players were forced into major roles. Continuity vanished. Communication suffered. And for a unit built on aggression and trust, that instability was fatal.
General manager Brad Holmes acknowledged the toll during his season-ending press conference, choosing gratitude over excuses.
“It’s just very frustrating that we weren’t able to put together a more consistent product for you guys, but we will get better,” Holmes said.
“But it’s so many — our trainers, performance staff, their care of the players throughout the season. Our personnel department, I thought those guys did a good job identifying some good football players, depth pieces that had to play large roles… Just a lot of guys that ended up having to play big roles.”
Then he delivered the line that framed the entire offseason:
“But look, bottom line is for our standards, this was a disappointment.”
Why Hutchinson’s Message Resonates
In an era where teams chase splashy hires, schematic revolutions and blockbuster trades, Hutchinson cut through the noise with something refreshingly simple.
Health.
Not hype. Not overhaul. Just availability.
If Detroit gets its defensive spine back intact — especially in the secondary — Hutchinson believes the Lions don’t need to reinvent themselves. They just need the chance to be whole again.
And after watching January football from the studio instead of the field, that message may carry more weight than any offseason headline.