The Lions show what’s still possible without Aidan Hutchinson

MINNEAPOLIS -- About a half-hour after sending the Detroit Lions to the top of the toughest division in professional football, Jake Bates arrived at the first press conference of his young career. The ball was still tucked under his arm.

Can’t blame him.

“I mean, 18 months ago, I thought I was done with football,” the rookie kicker said. “I was working as a brick salesman in Houston. I thought the dream was dead.”

Excuse me. Brick salesman? Did you just say brick salesman?

“I thought football was done, so I had to move on and do something else with my life,” Bates said. “Luckily, the Lord had something else in store.”

What a story. Bates is a former college soccer player for Central Arkansas who never attempted a field goal after trying football at Texas State and Arkansas. He still got a cup of coffee with the Houston Texans two summers ago, but was cut about a week into training camp, as is wont to happen to guys like him. Happens every year. And you usually don’t hear from them ever again.

But the Lions gave Bates another shot after he boomed moonshots for the UFL’s Michigan Panthers over the spring, continued to give him shots through an up-and-down training camp -- although they did hold kicker tryouts when the early days got rough enough -- and wound up going with the golden-legged kicker heading into the regular season, although begged for patience in the process.

Then the Lions flew to Minnesota for a showdown with the previously unbeaten Vikings, took some early hits, took another late on a David Montgomery fumble that was returned for a touchdown, and they never flinched. They came back the other way against one of the most hectic defenses in the league, Jared Goff found Amon-Ra St. Brown at the 22-yard line, then sent their rookie kicker onto the field with 15 seconds left.

Last year, Bates was doing ridealongs to learn the ins-and-outs of the brick trade in Houston.

On Sunday, he piped a 44-yarder that sent the Lions to a 31-29 win and first place in the NFC North.

For a team built on adversity, that is now facing more adversity than ever after losing Aidan Hutchinson, there was no more fitting end than that -- and no better reminder of what’s still possible.

“It was going to come down to the wire,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “The team knew this. We talked about patience. Patience. Keep your composure. Communication. Attitude. Our guys did that. We hung in there, and we didn’t bat an eye.

“Great team win. Complementary football across the board. Offense, defense, special teams when we need it most. Really proud of these guys. It’s a huge win on the road, tough environment. ... Don’t want to say must-win, but we needed that in a lot of ways.”

There are no must-wins when you’re 4-1, although you’re forgiven for feeling that way. The Lions handed Jerry Jones his worst loss ever last week in Dallas, although the Hutchinson injury cast a long, ominous shadow in the days after the beatdown against the Cowboys. Hutchinson stayed behind at the Baylor White Medical Center to undergo surgery for two broken bones in his left leg and won’t play again until at least the Super Bowl. If, of course, the Lions could manage to make it that far without him.

And that’s a big if. The Lions have one of the most-improved defenses in the league, but Hutchinson had accounted for as many sacks (7.5) as the rest of the team combined (7.5). He led the league in every major pass-rushing metric. And with fellow starter Marcus Davenport already in street clothes for the rest of the season, plus long-term injuries to John Cominksy and Derrick Barnes, not to mention Kyle Peko too, well, you probably saw the headlines last week. Tough spot, no doubt.

But the Lions have built this thing on adversity. They’ve been hardened by a long, hard climb to the top. And they knew while losing Hutchinson was a blow, it wasn’t death. And the 5-0 Vikings presented an immediate opportunity to show their resilience.

It wasn’t easy. The Lions were flagged twice and allowed a sack while going three-and-out to open the game, then misfired on a fake punt. Two plays later, Vikings running back Aaron Jones was standing in the end zone.

The deficit would grow to 10-0 before the Lions finally got their first first down on the final play of the opening quarter. Making matters worse, David Montgomery -- who had run for a touchdown in eight straight games -- had to be helped to the sideline with a knee injury.

“We knew that coming into games, they start off hot,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “They come out with their hair on fire. Kind of punched us in the teeth a little bit there early. We had to respond. That’s what we do. We’re built for responding.”

And that’s exactly what they did. The NFL’s top-scoring offense finally woke up, with Jahmyr Gibbs running for two touchdowns in the second quarter and Goff threading a dime-piece to Amon-Ra St. Brown working the right seam for a 35-yard touchdown. And just like that, Detroit had hit Minnesota’s vaunted defense -- which hadn’t allowed an explosive touchdown all season -- for two explosive touchdowns to take a 21-10 lead into halftime.

The lead eventually grew to 28-17, although Minnesota came all the way back, taking a 29-28 lead on a rare Montgomery fumble late in the fourth quarter.

More adversity.

More resilience.

Without Hutchinson, the defense swarmed the 2-point play to keep the deficit at 29-28. And when the offense went three-and-out, the defense held serve, pitching a three-and-out that got the ball back in Goff’s hands with 2:32 remaining.

More than enough time for that offense to work with, and they showed coolness in the moment. They handed the ball off twice to Gibbs to open the drive, then threw it to him too, accounting for 34 quick yards. Then Goff found St. Brown for another 14 yards, and just like that, they were at Minnesota’s 22-yard line draining whatever they could of the clock.

Then they sent Bates onto the field, and a guy who was training to be a brick salesman last year sent them to the top of the North.

So much adversity.

So much resilience.

“Coach (Campbell) gave a great speech before the week,” safety Kerby Joseph said. “He said everybody’s gotta pick up slack. We love Hutch. Hutch is down, but that don’t mean we lose all hope. This team is built for this.”

Losing Hutch hurts. But as the Lions keep trying to tell us -- and now show us -- it doesn’t have to be death. Not for a team with stars like Brian Branch (who picked off a fourth pass in five games) and Jared Goff (who had a passer rating above 140 for the third straight game) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (who had eight catches on eight targets for 112 yards and one TD) and Jahmyr Gibbs (who had 160 scrimmage yards and two TDs) and the best offensive line in football (even on a day where they didn’t have Kevin Zeitler).

Those guys are studs. Without Hutch, Detroit need others to step up too. And that’s exactly what Kalif Raymond (three catches, 39 yards, one TD) and Tim Patrick (two catches, 25 yards, two big blocks on TD plays) and the linebackers (three sacks) did.

Yes, they missed Hutch on the edge. But they won anyway. And for a team built on adversity, that is now experiencing more adversity than ever, there was no more fitting end than turning to the guy who was selling bricks just last year for the final blow.

“I couldn’t have dreamt of this,” Bates said. “This moment is so cool.”

Indeed.

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