The 2025 season for the Detroit Lions came to a disappointing conclusion earlier this month, missing out on what would have been a third straight trip to the NFL postseason with a 9-8 record that was sealed with a devastating loss to the rival Minnesota Vikings on Christmas Day.
For the first time since early 2023, there will not be playoff football for the Lions, who also saw their two-year reign atop the NFC North Division come to a close.
This time, it was the Chicago Bears who earned the top spot in the division despite losing both games against the Lions this season; not only did they win the division, but they also took down the Green Bay Packers in the NFL postseason Wild Card round on Saturday evening at Soldier Field.
Meanwhile, the Lions are now officially in offseason mode far earlier than they would have anticipated heading into the season
Detroit Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson Reflects On The 2025 Season That Was
Hutchinson, who would miss most of last season after suffering a devastating leg injury against the Dallas Cowboys, appeared in all 17 regular season games for the Lions in 2025.
While making an appearance on ESPN’s “Postseason NFL Countdown” alongside host Mike Greenberg and analysts Tedy Bruschi, Randy Moss, Rex Ryan, Alex Smith and Adam Schefter, Hutchinson said that he felt the Lions didn’t do a good enough job of playing complimentary football in 2025, leading to their downfall.
“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,” he continued. “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.”
Hutchinson was then asked specifically how the Lions can round back into form next season, and his answer was to improve the defense by getting their injured players back.
“To me, defensively, I think it’s get healthy,” he said. “It’s get our secondary healthy, it’s to get all those guys back, and I really think we’re going to have a complete defense.”
Hutchinson amassed 54 total tackles this season (36 solo), and 14.5 total sacks.
The Lions Suffered Several Key Injuries To Defensive Players In 2025
Not only did the Lions’ offensive line suffer a bevy of injuries, but to Hutchinson’s point, so did the defense.
Multiple top contributors suffered major injuries, including the likes of Kerby Joseph, Brian Branch, Terrion Arnold, and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. Sam LaPorta, Marcus Davenport, and Christian Mahogany also missed multiple games.
Going into their Week 18 matchup against the Bears, the Lions were ranked second overall in the NFL in total man games lost because of injury, leading to some criticism of the club’s training staff.
However, coming to the defense of the training staff was head coach Dan Campbell, who said most of the injuries suffered by the Lions were “freak things”.
“If you’ve got a major soft tissue issue then it’s more than just the player, in my opinion,” Campbell said during his season-ending press conference. “There’s other factors. We’ve been great. I mean, we do a great job of preparing our players. When you start talking about, ‘It’s an Achilles, it’s a –‘ man, those are, unfortunately those are freak things.”
Be the first to comment