The Lions Schedule Leaks Keep Coming and We’re Here For All of It
The NFL schedule release is Thursday and we’re getting the slow drip of leaks that make this whole week feel like Christmas morning stretched out over five days. For a fanbase that has learned to take good news in small doses, this feels about right.
The international slate drops Wednesday morning on Good Morning Football, but we already know the Lions are heading to Germany again. The opponent got leaked too. It’s the Patriots, which feels like exactly the kind of matchup the NFL would cook up for their European audience.
Here’s what we know about who the Lions play in 2026: NFC North twice, NFC South, AFC East, and three last-place teams from 2025 after finishing fourth in their division. The home and away split looks like this:
Home: Bears, Packers, Vikings, Patriots, Saints, Giants, Jets, Buccaneers, and Titans
Away: Bears, Packers, Vikings, Cardinals, Falcons, Bills, Panthers, and Dolphins
The projections say this is the easiest schedule in the NFL. We’ve heard that song before, but FanDuel still has the Lions as NFC North favorites at +145. They’re giving us -215 odds to make the playoffs and +1700 to win the whole damn thing. Those are not the odds of a team people expect to crater.
What The Leaks Are Telling Us
The rumor mill is churning and some of these feel more solid than others. The Lions apparently open at home against the Saints, which would be a nice way to start things off at Ford Field. Week 2 is confirmed: Buffalo on Thursday Night Football, which means a short week and a hostile environment right out of the gate.
Thanksgiving is locked in against the Bears. That one’s official and feels right. The season finale is reportedly against Green Bay, which could be meaningful if both teams are playing for something in January. We can dream.
There’s also chatter about Monday Night Football in Week 16 against the Giants and a possible Sunday Night Football appearance against Carolina in Week 4. Those are still rumors, but the primetime slots keep coming, which tells you how the league views this Lions team right now.
The Germany Game Details
The Patriots in Germany on November 15th at 9:30 AM Eastern. That’s a 3:30 PM local kickoff, which means Lions fans are waking up early or staying up late, depending on how you want to handle it. The league confirmed this one, so it’s happening.
Rod Wood already said the Lions are unlikely to get a bye week after the Germany trip, which is classic NFL scheduling. Make the teams travel halfway around the world and then make them play the following Sunday because that makes perfect sense.
What This Schedule Could Mean
If these leaks hold up, the Lions are looking at multiple primetime games and a schedule that doesn’t feel like a death march through conference powerhouses. That’s different. That’s new for a franchise that used to get the NFL’s equivalent of table scraps when it came to scheduling.
The Bills game in Week 2 will tell us a lot about where this team really stands. Buffalo at home on a Thursday night is not a gimme. But if the Lions can go into Buffalo and handle business, that sets a tone for everything that comes after.
The back-to-back Bears games are interesting too. Thanksgiving at home, then potentially a road trip to Chicago in Week 17. That’s a lot of Bears in a short span.
The season finale against Green Bay could be everything or nothing, depending on how both teams look by January. But in a division that should be competitive again, that game might matter more than we think right now.
Schedule strength projections are about as reliable as weather forecasts in Michigan, but this slate doesn’t look like the buzzsaw we’ve faced in recent years. Maybe that’s just what happens when you finish fourth in your division. Or maybe Brad Holmes built a roster that can handle whatever the league throws at it.
Thursday can’t get here fast enough. Are we getting excited about an easy schedule or just setting ourselves up for disappointment when half these teams turn out better than expected? Drop your take below.
