The Detroit Lions’ 2026 schedule is officially out. You can check out all of the details here, including time, date, opponent, and TV information in the news story about the schedule release
. Take it in, digest it, spit it out, if you want.But here are my five immediate takeaways from the Lions’ 2026 schedule.
Tough end to the season
As if the Germany-to-Thanksgiving gauntlet wasn’t enough, the Lions will have all three of their divisional road games played after December 19. That means a couple of cold, outdoor games in Green
Bay and Chicago, and their road game against the Vikings will be on Sunday night—meaning it’ll be a rowdy Minnesota crowd in Week 15. That’s an unenviable position to put the Lions in while they try to make a playoff run. Even the other game in that quartet—a home Monday Night Football game against the Giants—could be tougher than it looks with John Harbaugh at the helm in New York.
The Lions are still a national pull
While the Lions currently are only scheduled to have four primetime games—down from five last year—the majority of their schedule is still nationally televised. In total, eight of their 16 games are currently scheduled to be nationally televised, with their Week 18 finale still a potential “Sunday Night Football” candidate. Here’s a look at all eight nationally televised games:
- Week 2 — Thursday, Sept. 17 — at Bills — 8:15 p.m. ET (Prime Video)
- Week 4 — Sunday, Oct. 4 — at Panthers — 8:20 p.m ET (NBC)
- Week 7 — Sunday, Oct. 25 — vs. Packers — 4:25 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Week 10 — Sunday, Nov. 15 — vs. Patriots — 9:30 a.m. ET (FOX) — Germany
- Week 12 — Thursday, Nov. 26 — vs. Bears — 1 p.m. ET (CBS) — Thanksgiving
- Week 15 — Sunday, Dec. 20 — at Vikings — 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC)
- Week 16 — Monday, Dec. 28 — vs. Giants — 8:15 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- Week 17 — Sunday, Jan 3 — at Bears — 4:25 p.m. ET (FOX)
Set up for a strong start
While the Lions’ ending to the season could be very tough, the start of the season could allow for the Lions to get out to a nice start to the season. Four of the Lions’ first five games are against teams that finished with a losing record last year: the Saints (6-11), Jets (3-14), Panthers (8-9), and Cardinals (3-14).
While those teams could look very different in 2026, it would be disappointing if Detroit finished anything worse than 4-1 to start the year.
Another crappy, early bye week
While we knew the Lions weren’t likely to get a bye week after their Germany game because of its proximity to Thanksgiving, it’s still a massive disappointment to see the bye week come so early in the Lions’ 2026 schedule. A Week 6 bye is the second-earliest available in the NFL, and it comes well before the toughest parts in Detroit’s schedule.
It would’ve been much nicer to see the Lions get a break right before their Germany game to get some rest headed into that three-games-in-12-days streak or a Week 14 bye that would’ve helped prepare Detroit for that road division gauntlet at the end of the year.
Get ready to be home by 5 p.m. ET
We knew as soon as the Lions vs. Patriots game was destined for Germany that Detroit’s home schedule wasn’t going to be too exciting. With a pretty milquetoast set of home opponents, it’s not all that surprising to see that of the Lions’ eight games being played at Ford Field, six of them are scheduled for 1 p.m. ET:
- Week 1 vs. Saints
- Week 3 vs. Jets
- Week 8 vs. Vikings
- Week 11 v. Buccaneers
- Week 12 vs. Bears (Thanksgiving)
- Week 14 vs. Titans
The other two games are a 4:25 p.m. ET start against the Packers and “Monday Night Football” contest against the New York Giants.
As someone who has to work late after these games, I can get behind this.
