Lions stars explain what went wrong in disappointing season after big Super Bowl expectations

Detroit Lions players Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Aidan Hutchinson talk to Fox News Digital about not living up to the Super Bowl expectations this season.

The new-look Detroit Lions have been a force to be reckoned with, but this season, they are in what has recently become unfamiliar territory.

After making the playoffs in each of the previous two seasons, the Lions missed out on the playoffs after being one of the favorites to win it all in the preseason.

In 2023, they were this close to making the Super Bowl for the first time. Last season, they lost in their first playoff game as the No. 1 seed.

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Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions and running back Jahmyr Gibbs look on prior to an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sept. 7, 2025, in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  (Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images)

"I really think we have all the pieces, and that's why this year hurt the way that it did, because you know we have this high elite level of talent," star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson told Fox News Digital on Radio Row. "I really just think it was a football thing, and it was a lack of complimentary football in critical moments. I think different phases were letting the team down. That's defense included, too. It sucks that you have to sit there and say it, but I think that's kind of what happened. Because we have the pieces."

"I think we just slipped up here and there. Details kind of slipped up, we had a lot of people injured, but I wouldn't make that as an excuse because we did the same thing last year. Just need to clean up some stuff," running back Jahmyr Gibbs added. "Everybody's in the league for a reason. Every team's good. Every