The way Aidan Hutchinson sees it, 6-4 must morph into 9-4. Anything less for the Lions over the next three games would be a wasted opportunity.
“We’re 6-4 right now, I think people have written us off a little bit, and I think it’s a good spot to be in. I’m excited. I think these next three home games, we gotta be 3-0," Hutchinson said Wednesday. "And it starts with New York on Sunday."
Beginning Sunday against the 2-9 Giants, the Lions will play three games in 12 days at Ford Field. They host the Packers on Thanksgiving, and the Cowboys the following Thursday.
Recently, it’s been one step forward, one step back. After moving to 4-1 with a win over the Bengals in Week 5, the Lions have alternated wins and losses, the latest a 16-9 defeat to the reigning champion Eagles.
Their mini skid has dropped them to third in the NFC North and eighth in the NFC, outside of the playoffs looking in.
"Me personally, I’m not really on social media,” said Hutchinson. “I don’t see a lot of the stuff, I just assume what people are probably saying about us with the highs and lows of the week-to-week in football. I just know, looking at the rest of our schedule, we’re at a point where we gotta win. You gotta find a way to win, even if you get in a close game."
Hutchinson was pleased with the way the defense performed in the Lions’ loss in Philly, keeping the team in the game on a night that Detroit went 0-for-5 on fourth down.
“It was impressive. With the adverse situations we were put in, I’m very happy with the result that we had," Hutchinson said.
The results for the team, though, have started to slip. At a critical point in the season, "we gotta win all those close games if we want to do what we want to do this year, and we all understand that, regardless of what people say about us," said Hutchinson.
"And I think we’ve got a great shot to do it," he said. "We just gotta put all the pieces together every single game."