Alright, alright, alright, last week’s prediction was a fat dud. Many people didn’t expect the Detroit Lions to get bullied like they did against the Green Bay Packers, so I wasn’t alone in getting a strike to start the season. This week, though, I like my chances at turning things around and at least getting close to having my prediction come true. The Chicago Bears and former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson come to town, and it should turn into a Lions victory, but we can’t count our chickens before they hatch. If my prediction comes true, there’s no way the Lions lose.
Bold prediction of the week: Aidan Hutchinson records three sacks
Returning from his injury last season, Lions EDGE Aidan Hutchinson has been itching to get back on the field. He participated in OTAs and training camp fully and became a problem for not just the Lions’ own offensive line, but opposing offensive lines that came to town to practice. He seemed like he was an even better version of his 2024 self, which is hard to improve upon. He was a favorite to win the Defensive Player of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year awards, and after his performance against Green Bay, was that all just smoke and mirrors for the past few months?
No.
Hutchinson was in his first game back from his injury, and while he is physically ready, the mental side of things takes a bit of time to get wiped away. Hutchinson will have a good season and will continue to be the biggest x-factor on this defense, and you can expect a big game from him on Sunday.
First, the Lions are up against the Bears’ offensive line, which struggled on the interior in Week 1. While Hutchinson doesn’t line up in the interior, he can stunt towards the inside from his position and cause havoc on someone like Bears right guard Jonah Jackson. Per PFF, Jackson had a 22.6 pass blocking grade, the third lowest for guards in the league, and one of the players beneath him only played a snap. Jackson isn’t the only player struggling on the interior, as guard Joe Thuney allowed four pressures, and center Drew Dalman allowed four pressures and a sack.
With the interior having some struggles, Chicago might need to give them extra help from the tackles. If Chicago focuses on protecting the interior offensive line, it could leave Hutchinson in a one-on-one against either tackle Braxton Jones or Darnell Wright. If Hutchinson gets any chance of a single matchup, he has to win those battles and expect him to battle Jones more than Wright on Sunday afternoon.
Jones had a rough game against the Minnesota Vikings, allowing a team-high six pressures, with a 56.2 pass-blocking grade from PFF. He got some assistance from Thuney at times, but with a better defensive line of the Lions, he might not have any chances to give Jones any help. Jones is returning from a fractured ankle suffered in December 2024, and back in August, when he returned to practice, he didn’t seem fully healthy yet.
“I learned a lot of patience. Having to get surgery and stuff like that. I had to be patient with myself, be patient with the people around me,” Jones said. “And honestly, I stepped on a lot of toes during that process early on. It was hard to realize that I need to be more patient with people and allow them to help me, allow them to do things for me. At the end of the day, I learned that I have to be a little bit more patient and not be so urgent to do everything. I mean that when you’re healthy, you’re go, go, go. And then when you’re down like that, injured, you have to be patient. You have to understand that it’s a process.”
So while Jones didn’t miss a snap against Minnesota, he might be in the same boat as Hutchinson in the mental battle. Jones was in a battle all preseason for his starting left tackle job, and if Hutchinson has a dominant performance, Johnson might start to question if Jones is the team’s best option.
Despite not doing much against Green Bay, Hutchinson led the team in pressures with two and finished with a pass rush grade of 71.3. Now facing a simpler matchup, it makes the most sense for this to be his game to reintroduce himself to the NFL. Hutchinson will get back into his groove on Sunday afternoon and feast on the Bears, a team he hasn’t played since 2023, where he got eight tackles and two sacks in the two games, and get a three-sack performance.
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