The schedule release is Thursday night, and like every Lions fan who has been burned by false hope and weird timing, I’m already overthinking what this means for our season. Here are four predictions about when and who the Lions will be playing, because apparently we can’t just wait two more days without analyzing the hell out it.
The Germany Game: November, Obviously
The Lions are heading to Allianz Stadium in Munich, the same place Bayern Munich calls home. And here’s the thing about soccer teams — they own their buildings. Bayern dominates that stadium’s schedule for most of the year, just like FC Union Berlin does in Berlin.
Because of that scheduling reality, NFL games have been pushed back to November all three years that the NFL has played there. Those games were on November 13th in 2022, November 10th in 2024, and November 9th in 2025. All the games seem to be in that window.
So yeah, the Lions are playing in Germany on either November 8th or November 15th. Book it.
The Germany Opponent: Process of Elimination
The Lions play six teams with German marketing rights: the Falcons, Patriots, Giants, Packers, Panthers, and Buccaneers. But here’s where it gets interesting.
The Lions already protected their Packers game to keep it out of Germany. Smart move — nobody wants that rivalry at 9 AM Eastern. The NFL also likes to keep big TV draws away from international games, so cross off the Buccaneers. The Patriots-Lions matchup has too much juice to waste on a morning game in Munich. The Falcons are playing in Madrid this season.
That leaves the Giants. It makes perfect sense because while Lions-Giants could be fun at 8 AM, it’s not exactly appointment television that the NFL would want in primetime. Sometimes the boring answer is the right answer.
Season Finale: Packers at Home, Again
The NFC North has been a bloodbath lately, and the Lions have closed with a division opponent for ten straight years. Six of those were against Green Bay.
So here we go again — Packers in Week 18 at Ford Field. At this point it would be weird if it was anyone else.
Season Opener: Jets and the Aaron Glenn Storyline
The Lions usually start against a team the NFL expects big things from. Well, now the Lions are that team. So maybe they flip the script and open against a team that reminds everyone of what Detroit used to be.
Enter the Jets. Plus you get the Dan Campbell versus Aaron Glenn storyline for the first time since Glenn left for New York. The NFL loves that kind of narrative symmetry, and honestly, so do we.
Are these predictions going to age like milk or are we actually getting somewhere with this schedule speculation? Drop your hot takes in the comments.
I’m all in on the Jets opener storyline honestly. Aaron Glenn coming back to face Dan Campbell for the first time hits different and the NFL knows it. That kind of narrative juice is exactly what this team deserves to have happen.
The Germany game logic makes sense on paper but I’ve learned not to get too confident about these things before the NFL officially announces anything. That said, if it is the Giants, at least it’s not another primetime matchup we’re gonna lose on national TV.
The Packers in Week 18 at home feels right to me. This front office gets how important those division games are, and Campbell’s the type of guy who wants to settle things with rivals when it matters most. This era is built different than what we used to see.