Another Brutal December Because Of Course
The Lions schedule is out and yes, they found a way to make December miserable again. All three divisional road games fall after December 19, which means frozen hell in Green Bay and Chicago plus a Sunday night circus at Minnesota in Week 15. Because nothing says “playoff push” like traveling to the tundra when the temperature drops and the crowds get nastier.
Even the home Monday Night Football game against the Giants in that stretch could be trickier than it looks with John Harbaugh running things in New York now. This is the kind of scheduling that makes you wonder if the league office has a dartboard with Lions logos on it.
Still Getting The Primetime Treatment
Say what you want about this franchise, but the rest of the country still wants to watch us play. The Lions have eight nationally televised games locked in, with four primetime slots and their Week 18 finale potentially landing on Sunday Night Football depending on how things shake out.
The full national TV rundown includes Thursday night at Buffalo, Sunday night at Carolina, the Germany game against New England on FOX, Thanksgiving against Chicago, that brutal Sunday night trip to Minnesota, Monday night hosting the Giants, and a late season divisional game at Chicago. Not bad for a team that’s looking to build on recent success.
Front-Loaded For Success
Here’s where things get interesting. Four of the Lions’ first five opponents finished with losing records: Saints, Jets, Panthers, and Cardinals. Those teams could look completely different by September, but if Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell can’t get this roster to 4-1 over that stretch, we have bigger problems than schedule strength.
This feels like the kind of start that could set the tone for the entire season. Get out ahead early, build some confidence, and maybe avoid the stress-inducing final month scramble for a playoff spot that has become our yearly tradition.
Another Garbage Bye Week
Week 6. Week damn 6. The Lions get their bye in the second-earliest slot available, well before the meat grinder starts in November and December. It’s the kind of scheduling that makes you think someone at the league office is actively trying to make things harder.
What we needed was a bye right before that Germany-to-Thanksgiving gauntlet or a Week 14 break before those December road division games. What we got was a bye that will be a distant memory by the time we actually need rest. Classic.
Early Games, Early Bedtimes
Six of the eight Ford Field games kick off at 1 p.m., which means you can watch the Lions win or lose and still have most of your Sunday intact. The home slate includes Saints, Jets, Vikings, Buccaneers, Bears on Thanksgiving, and Titans in those early slots.
The only exceptions are a 4:25 kickoff against Green Bay and that Monday night showdown with the Giants. For those of us who spend Sunday evenings stress-eating after Lions games, this schedule is practically therapeutic.
Is this the year we finally make December matter for the right reasons, or are we setting up for another late-season collapse that makes us question our life choices? Drop your predictions below.
Yeah the December road games suck but honestly I’m not worried like I used to be. Campbell and Holmes have this team built different, they know what they’re doing. If we can go 4-1 against those weaker teams early like the article says, we should have enough momentum to handle whatever the schedule throws at us down the stretch.
I get why people are hyped but let’s be real – that Week 6 bye is actually terrible timing and the article nails it. We’re gonna need rest when things get nasty in November and December, not in September when nobody’s even hit their stride yet. Just feels like we got shafted again, no matter how good the early schedule looks.
The fact that we’re even talking about primetime games and national TV slots like this is wild compared to what I’ve lived through over the decades. That said, the bye week placement still bothers me because I’ve seen too many seasons get derailed by poor rest timing when it matters most. But at least we got Campbell now instead of the clown car we used to have.
Those early games against losing teams are a gift if we can execute – and I actually believe this team will because of who’s running things. Get to 4-1 and we roll into the rest of the season feeling good about ourselves. That’s the foundation for a real December run instead of a collapse.