Buckle up, Lions fans. Dan Campbell’s squad will embark upon a challenging road to a third straight NFC North division crown in 2025.
For starters, the Lions will play 11 of their 17 games against teams that made the playoffs a season ago. And based on the projected win totals of their opponents for the upcoming season, Campbell & Co. are expected to face the third-toughest schedule in all of football.
This projection, courtesy of Sharp Football Analysis, predicts only the Cleveland Browns (second toughest) and the N.Y. Giants (toughest) to face stiffer competition than Detroit in 2025.
Additionally, the Lions possess a gauntlet of a road schedule for the upcoming campaign.
Eight of the Lions’ nine road opponents, in fact, posted winning records a season ago. The only team that did not was the Chicago Bears (5-12), which are projected to be a team on the rise in 2025.
Those nine organizations also amassed 102 combined wins in 2024, equating to an average of 11 victories per team.
Then, there’s this: Seven of Detroit’s nine road foes made the playoffs last season. This includes the Washington Commanders (12-5), the team that eliminated the Lions from the playoffs, the reigning AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs (15-2) and the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (14-3).
And Detroit will square off with two of those three franchises in primetime this season: the Chiefs and the Eagles.
The Lions will travel to Kansas City in Week 6 for a highly-anticipated Sunday Night Football matchup. Jared Goff & Co. opened up the 2023 campaign at Arrowhead Stadium, and prevailed victorious, 21-20, in a hard-fought contest.
Meanwhile, Detroit will make the trek to Philadelphia in Week 11 to square off with Jalen Hurts and the Eagles on Sunday Night Football.
In total, Campbell’s team will play five primetime games in 2025: Week 3 at Baltimore (Monday Night Football), Week 6 at Kansas City, Week 7 vs. Tampa Bay (Monday Night Football), Week 11 at Philadelphia and Week 14 vs. Dallas (Thursday Night Football).
In addition, the Lions will host Jordan Love and the Packers for their annual Thanksgiving Day game, and square off with J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings on Christmas Day in Minnesota.
Altogether, Detroit’s slate of games for the upcoming season amounts to the second-hardest schedule in the league (its opponents recorded a 0.571 winning percentage in 2024).
Simply, Detroit’s path to a third consecutive division title (and just the playoffs) won’t be easy. Campbell & Co. will have to absolutely earn every single win they tally in 2025. And Campbell, the Lions’ fifth-year head coach, wouldn’t have it any other way.
“This is going to be a meat grinder, you know? I’ve said this before: We could be a better team than we were last year and have more losses,” Campbell said at the annual league meetings in April. “There is a chance that could happen. That’s OK. As long as we learn from what those are and we get better coming out of them, we’ll be good.”
Detroit’s ‘25 schedule is also more manageable than you think.
First off, following an early season bye week in 2024 (Week 5), the Lions will enjoy their week off closer to the midway part of the campaign in 2025.
The team’s bye is scheduled for Week 8, which comes at a perfect time for Detroit after two straight primetime contests (Week 6 against Kansas City and Week 7 against Tampa Bay). It should also provide Campbell & Co. with a prime opportunity to get healthy headed into the second half of the season.
Additionally, although the Lions will play in more outdoor venues this season (seven games total), they will play all but two of these contests during the first two months of the season.
Goff & Co. will travel to Green Bay, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Kansas City all before the Week 8 bye. Then following the bye, the Lions will play outdoor games in Washington and Philadelphia in Weeks 10 and 11, respectively. And after that, Detroit will play just once more outside: Week 18 in Chicago.
Then, when it comes to the Lions’ primetime slate of action, it’s important to remember the two-time reigning NFC North champs went 6-0 in such games last season. It was good for the best record in primetime by any team in 2024.
Plus, the Lions are 11-2 in primetime games with Campbell at the helm, the best of any organization since 2021.
It’ll certainly be hard for Detroit to sustain its winning ways in primetime this upcoming season. Yet, the team’s recent track record in such games does offer optimism that the Lions will fare just fine in these high-profile games again in 2025.
Subsequently, despite the daunting nature of Detroit’s upcoming regular season schedule, there is still plenty of reason to have a positive outlook. The biggest reason: Campbell’s team is a well-rounded squad capable of taking on any challenge.
So, don’t sweat it, Lions fans. Detroit will be just fine this upcoming season.
_This article was produced by the staff at Sports Illustrated/All Lions. For more, visit si.com/nfl/lions_