Lions fans pick team’s most important defender with Aidan Hutchinson out

Who is the Detroit Lions’ most important defender with Aidan Hutchinson out? Here’s who Lions fans picked.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Detroit Lions fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

In this week’s SB Nation Reacts survey, we asked Detroit Lions fans two questions:

1. Are you confident the Lions are headed in the right direction?
2. With Aidan Hutchinson on IR, who is the Lions’ most important defender?

After convincingly taking care of business against the Seahawks, Lions fans’ confidence in the direction of the team peaked at 99% of fans, then slightly dipped to 96% over the bye. In Week 6, the Lions continued to vanquish their demons, dismantling the Dallas Cowboys 47-9, and while the Lions lost Aidan Hutchinson for the season, Detroit fans did what Detroit fans do and rallied behind their team.

An increase to 98% is a nice representation of how much Lions fans believe in their team. Hutchinson’s loss certainly makes the Lions’ path more challenging but fans believe in this organization’s ability to overcome.

And that leads us to our second question: With Aidan Hutchinson on IR, who is the Lions’ most important defender? For this question, we gave Lions fans five options to choose from:

Hutchinson was the team’s best defender but this defense still has plenty of talent at every level, and fans believe Brian Branch could be the key to their sustained success. The reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week is coming off a dominating game that saw him record six tackles, two interceptions, a forced fumble, and a quarterback hit. That performance has people talking about him both on a local level as well as on the national stage.

Safety is an incredibly important position in the Lions’ scheme, and it will become an even more vital role if the Lions are not able to replicate their pressure numbers. If the defensive line needs more time to get home, a versatile safety like Branch could very well be the key to success.

To get a closer look into the minds of Lions fans, here are a few of the explanations from the comment section of the original article, lightly edited for length and clarity:

• RodrigosEgo: “There’s going to be a drop-off in the defense because nobody is as good as Hutch at what he does, but this team has done a great job filling the depth with talent, so the drop-off won’t be big as some people think. With Branch roaming the field, I think we’ll be ok.”
• Imnotlying: “Brian Branch. Hutchinson is our best player on D but Branch might be the most important.”
• NorthLion: “Branch is the guy. He does everything so well and is so intelligent. I still can’t believe we got him mid-way through the second round. Just the steal of the draft.”

But the love for the Lions doesn’t end with Lions fans. SB Nation also ran a national survey asking all NFL fans if they thought the Lions would cover the +2.5 point spread set by FanDuel Sportsbook at the beginning of the week, and two-thirds of fans believed Detroit would get it done.

This is also reflected in the betting line, which has now dropped to Lions +1.5 because of all the fans placing bets on the Lions.