Kindle Vildor turned off his TV.

He was flipping through the channels one day this spring when he stumbled upon a replay of the Detroit Lions' NFC championship game loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

The game was on NFL Network, and Vildor stopped to watch for a minute. Then frustration set in.

"I was just watching and I’m like, 'They got so damn lucky, man,'" Vildor told the Free Press after Day 1 of Lions minicamp Tuesday. "I'm like, 'Dang, man. This is crazy.' I ended up going to the store with my family."

The Lions built a 24-7 halftime lead and looked on their way to the Super Bowl when the 49ers scored 27 unanswered points in the second half.

Jake Moody made a 43-yard field goal on the opening drive of the third quarter to start the rally, and two plays after the Lions failed to convert on fourth down on the ensuing series, Vildor gave up a 51-yard pass to Brandon Aiyuk that ranks as the most infamous and improbable catch he's allowed in his four-year NFL career.

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Vildor and Aiyuk were running stride for stride downfield on a ball 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy launched over Aiyuk's head.

Vildor bumped Aiyuk around the 20-yard line, and both players jumped for the ball a few strides later. The ball hit Vildor in the facemask, and Aiyuk made a diving catch on the ricochet as Vildor fell backwards to the ground.

"It was crazy," Vildor said. "It just, it don’t make — I couldn’t believe it like, cause I was so far on top of him, so I’m like, 'OK, it’s coming right to me,' and like kind of last minute, he kind of put his hand up, now I kind of put my hand up and I kind of just lost it and it just hit me right in the face and it just ended up going right to him. It was just so unlucky and then after that it’s just, it was just crazy, man."

Aiyuk popped to his feet and ran to the end zone, but officials ruled he was down by contact at the 4-yard line. Purdy threw a 6-yard touchdown to Aiyuk three plays later, and momentum was unstoppably on the 49ers' side.

"It was just God was on their side for some reason or something, man," Vildor said. "I just couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what happened. I’m like, 'What? Dang.' That junk was crazy, man."

Vildor's gaffe was one of many that snowballed on the Lions in the final 22 minutes.

Jahmyr Gibbs lost a fumble on the Lions' next offensive snap. Josh Reynolds dropped two passes. The Lions failed to convert another fourth down, then missed a block a third-and-goal run from the 1-yard line that cost them one final chance to get the ball back.

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No one mistake was bigger than another, but Vildor said his was "tough" to swallow immediately after the game.

"Just cause we ended up losing the game," he said.

Four months later, Vildor is in a different space, "definitely over" the play and determined to help the Lions have an even better season this fall.

"Just looking back on it, I mean just get the ball down," he said. "Just get it down at all costs, but it was a learning moment for me and I feel like the opportunity will come and we’ll make that play for sure."

A midseason addition last November after spending training camp with the Chicago Bears and parts of the early season with the Philadelphia Eagles and Tennessee Titans, Vildor did enough in his late-season cameo as starting cornerback for the Lions to re-sign him to a one-year free agent deal this spring.

He's spent most of the offseason program taking No. 1 cornerback reps opposite Carlton Davis, and while he'll have to fend off competition from rookies Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. and free-agent addition Amik Robertson to keep that job come fall — Arnold did not practice Tuesday because of an injury, and Robertson and Rakestraw have worked primarily at slot cornerback this offseason — he's as prepared as ever for the role.

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For maybe the first time in his career, Vildor is at ease in a defense that suits his skill set, and playing for coaches and a team that, in spite of how the season ended, believed enough in him to bring him back.

"It meant a lot to me, even when I came back and signed just talking to (defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn), he was just telling me like I did a lot of good stuff on film last year and they liked me a lot," Vildor said. "So it was good I was able to come back here and just finish what we started, just come here and compete and just take the next step this year."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions Kindle Vildor over 'unlucky' catch, still can't watch it