MUNICH – Derrick Barnes thought Aidan Hutchinson was joking.
Hutchinson jumped high in the air Sunday, Nov. 15, to celebrate a drive-stalling sack on the opening possession of the Detroit Lions‘ 35-10 win over the New England Patriots, then crumpled to the ground holding his right leg just below the knee.
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“You know how people do the fake injury thing and they get up and start doing the dance?” Barnes told the Free Press in the locker room after the game. “Aidan being as goofy as he is, I thought that’s what he was doing. And then I looked, I was like, ‘Aidan,’ I was like, ‘Don’t scare me like that,’ cause I thought he was just joking. And he was just like, ‘I’m not.’ I said, ‘Are you serious?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.'”
Detroit Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson (97) sacks New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) during the first half at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026.
Hutchinson’s potentially serious knee injury put a damper on an otherwise banner day for the Lions.
Amon-Ra St. Brown had 99 yards receiving and scored two touchdowns in his first game in his mother’s home country of Germany. Jahmyr Gibbs added 252 yards from scrimmage and two more scores. And the Lions defense, despite losing Hutchinson after 10 defensive snaps, held its fifth straight opponent to 21 or fewer points.
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But as players showered and hurried out of the locker room to catch a bus to the airport for a flight back to Michigan, there was significant concern for their top pass rusher and best defensive player.
“We’ll know more when we get back in the states, but anytime you lose a player of his caliber, type of teammate he is, he’s a captain of ours, that doesn’t make things easy,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “But I thought guys stepped up in his wake and showed up for us today and helped us out.”
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The Lions (7-2) have won five straight games to surge into a first-place tie in the NFC North with the Chicago Bears, but now face the prospect of potentially playing the rest of the season without two of their best defensive players.
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Linebacker Jack Campbell, a first-team All-Pro last season, suffered a spinal cord injury in a Nov. 1 win over the Minnesota Vikings and remains in a Detroit area hospital, while cornerback Rock Ya-Sin called Hutchinson “the cornerstone of our defense.”
“He’s the heart and soul of our defense and like I said, we’re hoping and praying that it’s nothing major, he’ll be back sooner than later,” Ya-Sin said. “He’s an irreplaceable kind of player. He’s 1 of 1 – in this league. Not just on this team, but in this league. He’s a premier pass rusher. They don’t come [like that].”
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The Lions finished with five sacks Sunday – four after Hutchinson’s injury – and got good play from defensive ends DJ Wonnum and Derrick Moore and interior linemen Alim McNeill and Skyler Gill-Howard.
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Wonnum had his sixth sack of the season in his return from a one-game absence due to a brain injury, Moore, a rookie second-round pick out of Michigan, had two sacks for the second straight game. And McNeill and Gill-Howard have given the Lions a disruptive pass-rushing tandem at defensive tackle.
McNeill had another sack Sunday, giving him a team-leading 6.5 on the year.
Hutchinson has six sacks and entered the game second in the NFL with 50 quarterback pressures,
“We got the guys, man,” Wonnum said. “Everybody just got to step up. It’s hard to replace a guy like Aidan, so we just got to come together collectively and play off of one another and I feel like we got the guys in the room to do it.”
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Hutchinson limped off the field under his own power after his sack Sunday – quarterback Drake Maye suffered an ankle injury on the play and did not return – then underwent a lengthy evaluation in the blue medical tent on the Lions sideline.
He walked to the locker room under his own power, and NFL Network reported he went for an MRI during the game. The German media outlet Joyn posted a picture of Hutchinson on crutches outside of the Lions’ team bus.
Wonnum said he saw Hutchinson in the Lions’ training room after the game but “didn’t really have e conversation with him.”
“I just went in there and gave him a hug and just told him I love him, appreciate him for everything and keep us updated with what’s going on,” Wonnum said.
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Hutchinson had a career-high 14.5 sacks last season and was a second-team All-Pro after missing 12 games in 2024 with a broken leg.
Several Lions players wondered if the slippery surface at Allianz Arena, home to the soccer team FC Bayern Munich, played a role in Hutchinson’s injury.
“Somebody was like … it could be this field,” Barnes said. “Think about it now, yeah, when you got to put 7-studs [cleats] on it’s not really – it’s like we go to Green Bay, when you put 7-studs on, it’s a problem.”
“I hope not,” Ya-Sin said when asked if the field could have contributed to the injury. “I don’t know. The field’s different. I’m not going to lie. It’s different and playing with 7 studs (cleats) is different, but just we show up, we play.”
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Campbell said he likes the depth the Lions have on their defensive line and is confident in the group heading into the homestretch of the season.
The Lions host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week, play the Bears four days later on Thanksgiving and after games against the Atlanta Falcons and Tennessee Titans, close the season with three division road games in the final four weeks.
“Anytime you lose a player like that, and you don’t know the entirety of it but knowing Hutch for who he is, it’s like, he doesn’t stay down long, that does, it hurts a little bit,” Campbell said. “But as far as this game was concerned, our guys stepped up and finished, man. We stayed strong. This is the second time this has happened and our guys have responded in a tough situation and didn’t bat an eye. We just went back to work and that’s not an easy thing to do.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions’ concern high after Aidan Hutchinson injury: ‘He’s the heart and soul’
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