After the season, Lions fans haven’t had a lot to be happy about. On top of that, the Bears have been especially annoying this time around. Players have been leaving and getting hurt over and over again.
The return of Aidan Hutchinson is one of the few things that makes this new season interesting. The Lions’ star pass rusher was greatly missed in the second half of the season. His return is pretty much the only thing that’s making Lions fans hopeful as they head into training camp.
That’s why it was only normal that someone on the internet would ruin the party. This is pretty much what the internet is all about. This week, our friends at Pro Football Focus did a great job by putting out a list of things to worry about for each team as the new season starts. The Lions one is, in a word, scary.
The main thing that worries PFF about Aidan Hutchinson is pure fear fuel.
“Look, typing it hurts.” From his junior year at Michigan until now, Hutchinson has been on a tear as a pass rusher. Before getting hurt and stopping his season in 2024, he had an amazing 95.0 PFF pass-rush grade and a 38.3% pass-rush win rate, which were by far the best marks among edge defenders. Reports say he’s ready for 2025, but it’s still important to keep an eye on him to see if he can quickly get back to his best. His whole pass-rush plan is based on him, so the Lions hope he can pick up where he left off last season.
They had to type it out, which hurt. A small price to pay for a study that makes sense but isn’t needed at all. The Lions are doomed if Hutchinson isn’t the guy he was before he got hurt. That is definitely going to finish in third place. I’m not interested in thinking about any of those things. Instead, I think that because of how far science has come, Hutchinson’s knee is just as good (or even better!) than it was before. The Lions will be fine.
Everything will be okay. Everything will be okay. Everything will be okay. I think I might start to believe it if I say it a few more times.
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