DETROIT — It had been a glorious fall here in Detroit — day after day of 70s, soft breezes and sunshine. Few clouds. No storms. Construction cranes continued to swing in a revitalized downtown, finishing skyscrapers and fresh condos alike. The Tigers got hot and offered a few weeks of baseball’s unique burst of energy.
And the Lions … the Lions kept winning, 4-1 now.
Here in a city that is used to political insults and underdog status, a strange phenomenon had washed over the people and the place — life as a favorite. It’s still all too new to expect victory — this isn’t Kansas City or New England before it.
But Dan Campbell’s crew is undeniably good — great even. Offense. Defense. Coaching. Stars are performing. Role players have stepped up. Plays, even trick plays, are being made. Somehow Jameson Williams seems to get faster by the week. The Lions are capable of not just beating anyone, but bludgeoning them.
There is nothing like the come-up for a fan.
Discussions of the Super Bowl, for generations nothing but the terrain of the delusional, have been more than reasonable. The team has few obvious weaknesses and untold strengths. Only history has caused hesitancy.
Late Sunday afternoon here the rain finally came — meteorologically via a cold drizzle and then a heavy downpour moved in to offer the first sign of the eventual winter.
Then metaphorically when, in the midst of delivering a stirring 47-9 woodshed beating of the Dallas Cowboys, Aiden Hutchinson broke his tibia.
Just like that the satisfaction from the kind of Sunday afternoon that so rarely arrives here — their team delivering utter domination on national television — was gut-punched by an injury so visually gruesome that Fox wouldn’t show it and emotionally painful no Lions fan wanted to even contemplate it.
“It’s tough,” Campbell said after.
The instant reaction is that Detroit may have won the game but lost the Super Bowl, although only time will tell that.
There is no denying Hutchinson’s on-field impact — he leads the NFL in sacks (7.5) — and his mere presence opened up the game for fellow defensive linemen such as Alim McNeill (2.5 sacks) and Levi Onwuzurike (1.5, 12 tackles), not to mention aided a young but impressive secondary (three interceptions against the Cowboys).
The stats are the stats though. There is no one in the league who plays harder than Hutchinson; he seemingly takes each play like it’s the final play of the Super Bowl. He chases down ball carriers. He hustles back downfield. He’s relentless, an undoubted tone setter on every snap of not just the game, but practice as well.
In Brad Holmes, Detroit may have one of the best general managers in the league. The draft-pick heater he’s been on turned a dispirited, moribund franchise into a roster overflowing with talent. He did it while maintaining future draft capital and $28.5 million in cap space, per OverTheCap.com, in case of emergency.
Hutch recovering from surgery in a Dallas hospital Sunday Night would qualify as that.
So maybe they can trade for a replacement, whether it’s a Maxx Crosby (Las Vegas) or a Myles Garrett (Cleveland) or a more reasonable Trey Hendrickson (Cincinnati) or Travon Walker (Jacksonville) or Jadeveon Clowney (Pittsburgh).
What Holmes and Campbell have built — both in attitude and aptitude — is more than one player, even a war daddy of an edge rusher. The offense is potent. The defense is ferocious. There is too much here. On Sunday, when Campbell handed the game ball to Jared Goff for his three-touchdown performance, Goff quickly gave it back to Campbell, a Dallas-area native and former Cowboy, for beating his old team.
“Our [expletive] head coach is our [expletive] rock now,” Goff said.
The season, let alone the Super Bowl, is anything but lost.
Still, there is something about doing it without Aiden Hutchinson that left a malaise over Detroit even as the blue skies returned above to drain the puddles on Monday morning.
Hutchinson is one of them. He wasn’t brought here; he’s from here. He was raised in Plymouth, the son of a Michigan Wolverine legend. He played at Divine Child in Dearborn then on to U of M himself. In 2021, he powered the team that finally bullied Ohio State, won the Big Ten and got to the College Football Playoffs.
When the 2022 NFL Draft came, he didn’t want to go first overall — to Jacksonville, which chose Walker. He wanted Detroit. He wanted the Lions. The heartbeat of the team was already taking shape — Goff had been traded for and Holmes had selected offensive lineman Penei Sewell, receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and both Onwuzurike and McNeill.
Hutchinson brought star power and credibility. When he sang — and danced — to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” on “Hard Knocks” that summer, he seemingly galvanized the fan base. The possibilities were somehow obvious.
He was the symbol of the team, of the city, of the collective hopes that had risen from decades of knowing better.
The sacks and tackles and perhaps even leadership can be replaced. Next man up. The end game is still the plan.
In the best of times though, a player is more than his production, even in the bottom line NFL.
So as the weather and the possibilities brightened for the Lions, the disappointment lingered. No Hutch. The dream is still alive, but it also isn’t quite the same.
