It’s finally time for some real Detroit Lions football.
After a painfully long offseason, the Lions are back in action on Sunday for their Week 1 matchup against the New Orleans Saints.
Every week in the NFL is an opportunity to get closer to the ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl. But this Sunday feels like a little more than that for the Lions. This offseason hasn’t just been long, it’s been painful. We’ve watched David Montgomery get shipped out of town. We saw an awkward and painful divorce
between the Lions and Taylor Decker. Months of public bickering from Alex Anzalone culminated in him signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Terrion Arnold situation was both frustrating and depressing.
Download SB Nation’s new app for game day!
Game-day discussions are so much smoother in SB Nation’s new app.
- Fewer ads
- Seamlessly jump between communities and conversations
- Faster commenting and posting experience!
Download the SB Nation app on iOS or Android.
Aside from Arnold, none of these departures were particularly surprising, but it’s still not particularly easy to see once-beloved players move on. They’ve helped Detroit get to where they are today, and it’s weird to see the franchise move on without them.
But that’s what Sunday truly feels like: moving on.
The 2025 season has been a tough pill to swallow for this franchise. Everything seemed to be going in the right direction with Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes until then. And while 9-8 is far from a huge failure—especially considering where this team came from—it’s no longer the standard, and it’s certainly not acceptable.
Sunday’s game against the Saints gives Detroit the first opportunity to truly put that game behind them and send a message to the league, Lions fans, and themselves that last year is not what this team is about and not where they are headed.
Week 1 won’t be the end-all, be-all. But it’s a great way to shut some people up and set the standard back to the standard.
This post is where you can chat during the Lions’ Week 1 opener, but this live game chat is best experienced on the new SB Nation app. It’s a clean experience where the comments populate automatically, and it’s definitely worth checking out—and it’s now available in Canada, too!
Download it here:
- Apple Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sb-nation/id6789240983
- Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sbnation.app
