Lions' Aidan Hutchinson compares playoff wins over Rams, Buccaneers

Detroit Lions star pass-rusher Aidan Hutchinson spoke with NBC Sports' Peter King shortly after Sunday's 31-23 home divisional playoff victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and discussed what are relatively new experiences for those associated with the Lions. 

"Last week," Hutchinson explained, "it felt a little foreign. That atmosphere, that vibe, it was different. I feel like getting one under our belt, getting a playoff game under our belt, getting the win, we can move on from the 30 years, from all the history of what we haven’t been able to do in the past and it was good to get over that hump." 

The Lions defeated the Los Angeles Rams 24-23 at Detroit's Ford Field in the wild-card round of the playoffs back on Jan. 14 to earn their first playoff victory since January 1992. Ahead of the weekend, ESPN's Doug Greenberg mentioned that the Lions hadn't won multiple playoff games in the same postseason tournament since 1957 before Detroit took Tampa Bay down. 

1957 was also the last time the Lions claimed an NFL championship. The franchise has yet to make a single Super Bowl appearance in its history.

"We’re just getting over mountains right now," Hutchinson continued during his chat with King. "That’s what we’re doing. It’s just one mountain after another. They said we couldn’t win two playoff games in a row. Now we’re going to keep climbing that mountain." 

While some sportsbooks had the Lions as 6.5-point favorites against the Buccaneers as of Friday, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Detroit early Monday afternoon as a 6.5-point underdog for this coming Sunday's NFC Championship Game at the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers. 

The 49ers hardly looked like world-beaters in this past Saturday's narrow 24-21 home win over the Green Bay Packers. That may be just one reason why Hutchinson and company could believe they'll continue a team-of-destiny run all the way to Super Bowl LVIII.