By james art 
The Detroit Lions needed the Cincinnati Bengals to lose to the Las Vegas Raiders and it has nothing to do with the playoff picture.
The Lions need a replacement for Aidan Hutchinson. The talk of the Lions aside was how they made every team they’ve played so far look inferior to them – minus one. There is a lot of talk about who that replacement should be.
Most of the talk has revolved around the AFC North. One media personality even suggested that the Cleveland Browns send Myles Garrett to the Lions. Of course, neither team would engage in such talks.
However, the only Browns player who has been consistently linked to the Lions is Za’Darius Smith. And while that’s more likely to happen, he’s still not the best replacement for Hutchinson in the AFC North.
Trey Hendrickson would be the perfect replacement for the Lions in Hutchinson’s absence. And if the Bengals had lost to fall to 3-6 on the season, chances are that would have happened.
When the New Orleans Saints allowed Hendrickson to walk in free agency after the 2020 season, Cincinnati wasted no time in making a deal. And since he’s been in Cincinnati, he’s been one of the most disruptive rushers in the NFL.
Since his first season with the Bengals, he has recorded three seasons with 10 or more sacks. He reached his NFL-leading 11th sack thanks to his four sacks on Sunday.
Hendrickson recorded a career-high 17.5 sacks last season. He’s the perfect replacement because before Hutchinson was knocked out for the season, he was on his way to having a season just as devastating as Hendrickson.
Both players are deadly off the rim. Hendrickson will essentially be a carbon copy of Hutchinson. And if the Bengals were about to suffer their sixth loss of the season, they could choose to sell.
Hendrickson will be 30 years old before the end of the season, so it wouldn’t be a shock if he wanted to join a contending team.
Although the Lions’ pass rush has had question marks since Hutchinson went down against Dallas, they have been able to win every game since then and allowed more than two touchdowns once in a game against Minnesota.
Unfortunately, they have just as good a chance of prying Garrett away from the Browns as they do prying Hendrickson away from the Bengals.