Over at our mothership, Jarrett Bailey made 61 predictions for the 2026 NFL season. Four of those 61 predictions involve the Lions, and each of them come with varying degrees of likelihood, in my opinion.
To kick off Notes today, I’ll go through each of Bailey’s Lions-related predictions.
10. Lions score 40 points in consecutive weeks
Bailey doesn’t just make this prediction, he picks the two games Detroit will do it against.
They then have a two-game road-trip, facing the Carolina Panthers and Arizona
Cardinals. In front of a national audience on Sunday Night Football, Jahmyr Gibbs goes off for three total touchdowns while Jared Goff goes for 303 yards and four scores, defeating the Panthers 41-17. The next week against Arizona, Goff and rising playmaker Isaac TeSlaa hook up for seven receptions, 88 yards, and two scores while the defense forces three takeaways in a 40-9 public execution.
The Panthers had a pretty average defense last year, and just lost their starting linebacker for the season. The Cardinals had one of the worst defenses in football and just hit the reset button. I could see this happening.
14. Bills open new Highmark Stadium with a bang
Detroit plays the Bills in Week 2 on “Thursday Night Football,” and it will be the christening of Buffalo’s new stadium. Bailey predicts the Lions to lose 38-24. Obviously, that’s a tough matchup for Detroit, and they’re currently underdogs to the Bills, but that feels like a pretty big score difference.
18. Cardinals trade S Budda Baker to the Lions
Okay, now we’re getting juicy.
Obviously, the Lions’ safety situation is in flux as they await to see how quickly Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph can return from injury. With the Cardinals likely heading for a rebuild year, it totally makes sense for them to be a seller, and Baker is still a great player. Unfortunately, he comes with a $14.4 million salary in 2026 and over $16 million in 2027. Additionally, Branch’s return should come right around the trade deadline, so this one feels pretty unlikely.
44. Lions win the NFC North
Bailey admits he’s skeptical about Detroit’s roster on defense, but he’s very high on the hiring of Drew Petzing as the team’s new offensive coordinator.
“I’ll be optimistic about the Lions and have them rebound and win the division with a high-powered offense that outscores its problems,” Bailey writes.
With the Lions currently being favorites to win the division, this is a perfectly reasonable prediction.
Check out all of Bailey’s 61 predictions here.
- Our Feed Post of the Day comes from AttilaTheHun, who makes a very good argument as to why the Lions shouldn’t wait to pay Sam LaPorta:
- More Amon-Ra St. Brown in Germany content:
- The Athletic’s Mike Jones listed his overrated and underrated teams for the 2026 season. The Lions aren’t mentioned, but I’m including it because there is an “overrated” NFC North team in there.
- ESPN discussed the potential of the Lions’ offense for a couple minutes during “NFL Live” this week:
- Thought this was a good, detailed story about the NFL’s Rooney Rule and what people inside the league actually think about it and its impact or lack thereof.
