ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Detroit Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson is working to tune out the outside reaction after Sunday’s 16-9 defeat to the reigning champion Philadelphia Eagles, but he admits the loss has lingered as the team pushes to regain momentum.
“We’re sitting at 6-4. It feels like a lot of people have counted us out, and honestly, I like where we’re at,” Hutchinson said. “These next three games at home are huge. We need to sweep them, and it starts with the Giants this Sunday.”
Detroit welcomes New York to Ford Field at 1 p.m., coming off a nationally televised NFC matchup in which nearly every key fourth-down gamble failed. The Lions went 0-for-5 on fourth down—only the second team in 30 years to post that many failed attempts in a single game. The only other team to do worse: the 2022 Lions under the same head coach, Dan Campbell, when they went 0-for-6 at New England.
Campbell said the offense “wasn’t quite right” in Philadelphia, where Detroit scored its fewest points since 2023. Still, the team is using the public doubt as fuel as it tries to steady its season.
Heading into the Giants matchup, the Lions find themselves fighting to stay in the playoff picture despite entering the year as one of the favorites to win the NFC North — and even considered by some to be a potential Super Bowl contender.
“We’re at a point where winning is the only option,” Hutchinson said. “Close games, tough spots, whatever it is, we’ve got to come out on top if we want to reach our goals. We all know that — no matter what people are saying about us. We have the talent; we just need to put everything together every week and finish strong when it’s tight.”
Detroit dropped its most recent home contest in a Week 9 upset to Minnesota but hasn’t lost back-to-back games at Ford Field since October 2022.
According to ESPN Analytics, the Lions currently have a 34% chance to take the NFC North, trailing Green Bay (44%) and Chicago (22%). A win over New York would bump Detroit’s odds to 39%, while a loss would plunge the number to 20%, regardless of results elsewhere. Even so, Campbell is resisting the idea of putting extra weight on Sunday’s matchup.
“We’ve always played with urgency. That hasn’t changed,” Campbell said. “Yeah, we wish things had gone differently and we’d love to be undefeated, but that’s not real. And if you tell guys to crank up the urgency even more, that’s when mistakes start happening — that’s when players press and go outside the system.”
