Notes: Hutchinson is hitting his stride at the right time for the Lions

Now nine games into his young NFL career, Detroit Lions’ rookie Aidan Hutchinson is beginning to figure things out. As the second overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft, Hutchinson has had massive expectations placed on his shoulders from the get-go. On top of going to school just up the road at the University of Michigan, Hutchinson is a metro Detroit native as well. And despite pockets of inconsistent play, something that every rookie is prone to, he has lived up to the lofty expectations. Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com took some time to examine how the game has slowed down for the rookie, and how great he potentially can be.

From the time he became a Lion, we consistently heard about how quickly Hutchinson learns and adapts. The last few weeks, those instincts have really began to show up—including last week against the Chicago Bears, where he stepped in front of a would be receiver, causing quarterback Justin Fields to throw an errant pass that was eventually picked off and returned for a score by Lions’ cornerback Jeff Okudah.

“They were throwing a delayed tight end screen on the backside and I kind of stopped, Justin (Fields) kind of hesitated and the pressure was coming and he kind of threw it,” Hutchinson said of Okudah’s interception. “Jeff was behind me, and I threw a little block for Jeff, and we got the touchdown.”

While the defense is still very much a work in progress, it is nice to see some of their young players, like Hutchinson, take steps in the right direction. You can read the entirety of the article from Twentyman here.

And now, onto the rest of today’s notes:

• Not an ideal statistic for the Lions’ defense, but Fields may be considered an outlier by the time this season is over.

• Speaking of NextGenStats, Jared Goff came in at No. 3 in NGS passing score for Week 10. While that stat is not explained in this video, it does point out an interesting stat for Goff vs. the Bears: He was 9-of-12 for 101 yards and a touchdown vs. the blitz on Sunday.

• Thorough film breakdown of the good and bad from Detroit’s defense vs. the Bears via Justin Rogers of the Detroit News.

• With the Lion’s Week 10 victory over Chicago, they ended several rough losing streaks. Eric Woodyard of ESPN has more.

• Two pillars of the franchise in these photos.