The Minnesota Vikings start off the 2026 season with a rivalry game right away, and while that game is against the Green Bay Packers — more on that later — there’s no better time to get the lay of the land in the rest of the division than RIGHT NOW.
Let’s talk about the Detroit Lions. They’ve run the gamut from good to great to mediocre in the last three years, and don’t have the distinct displeasure of playing the first-place schedule this year as they did last season.
Will the real Detroit Lions
please stand up?
We asked the experts from Daily Norseman in our latest edition of the roundtable:
The Lions have gone 12-5, 15-2 and 9-8 in the last three seasons — which/who of those are the REAL Lions?
Brandon Warne: Of the three it’s probably 12-5, but again it’s a division where everyone will be biting kneecaps and as a result, I think most of the teams will gravitate toward that 9-8/10-7 ether. As an aside, it’s sort of wild how differently a 9-8 and 11-6 finish look when they’re literally one game of deviation from a 10-7 record.
Anyway, I still think the Lions have more than enough talent on both sides of the football, but Terrion Arnold subtracted from the defensive side and David Montgomery on the offensive end should not be disregarded, either. This defense is the muckiest of muck piles and the Lions are right in the thick of it.
Christopher Gates: I think the Lions have a decent amount of talent. I don’t think they’re 15-2 good, but I think they’re a bit better than the 9-8 that they showed last season, so yeah. . .I guess they’re closer to the 12-5 if we’re just going off of those three teams. I know they finished fourth in the division last year, but they still had a winning record and they’re probably in for a bit of a rebound this season, too. They’re definitely a team that shouldn’t be slept on.
Warren Ludford: The 12-5 Lions are the closest version to this year’s Lions team. Their offensive line isn’t as good as the 14-3 version and the defense isn’t quite as good overall either.
What Lions player do you feel is the most overrated?
BW: Jameson Williams, though maybe it’s just because I see so many Lions fans convinced he’s in a completely different universe than Jordan Addison. The Lions, like the Bears, have immense talent on the offensive end but haven’t been able to get it all to sync up at the right time with health, suspensions and all of that — and Williams has been part of that.
CG: This is a tough one because a lot of the Lions’ players who are highly rated actually are among the best in the league at their positions. If I had to pick one, I’d say someone like Sam LaPorta. He got off to a solid start in his first couple of seasons, but I don’t know if he’s in the “elite” tier of tight ends in the NFL or anything like that. Add to that the fact that he’s coming off a year where he dealt with back issues, and I think we may see him start to fall off a little bit. Of course, he’s still young enough that it might not affect him that much, but if I had to pick one of the bigger-name players on that roster, he’d be the one I’d lean towards.
WL: Amon-Ra St. Brown. He’s a good slate route runner, but beyond that he doesn’t stand out as much, and yet he’s often mentioned as among the top tier despite his more limited route tree.
How about underrated?
BW: Jahmyr Gibbs. No matter how good you think he is, he’s better.
CG: I know people like to talk down about him, but Jared Goff is better than a lot of people would like to admit, I think. He’s provided solid, steady play for the Lions since they brought him in to replace Matthew Stafford, and even though he’s been surrounded by pretty decent skill position talent, he’s been able to make decent use of it. Sure, he’ll still have the occasional moment where you’ll wonder what the heck he’s doing, but those aren’t nearly as frequent as people make them out to be. Goff doesn’t get enough credit for what he does in that offense, in my opinion.
WL: Aiden Hutchinson. He’s been doing it without much help from the rest of the defensive line for a while now and still has great stats.
What do the Lions do well that worries you most as a Vikings fan?
BW: I don’t know if any team epitomizes the identity of their head coach more than the Lions, and that’s terrifying. As an observer, I kind of like the idea of a Madden-like coach throwing caution to the wind and going for it on 4th-and-3 in their own end just because they feel like it, and I like the idea that just because it’s conventional wisdom doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do things (or the wisest, as it were).
But would I like to be a fan of that type of mindset? Man, I don’t know. I think I would, but maybe I’m built different.
CG: The Lions are always aggressive, no matter the situation, which is something that’s generally pretty admirable. Yes, there have been times when Dan Campbell has made a call that’s come back to bite him squarely on the backside, but overall I would much rather have a coach get too aggressive than have a coach that’s too passive. At least when a coach is too aggressive, it’s because he believes enough in his team that he wants to give them an opportunity to go out and win the game themselves. It’s worked out for the Lions more often than not, and I’d like to see that sort of aggressiveness more frequently in Minnesota, to be honest.
WL: When their offense is clicking, it’s hard to stop.
What’s your record prediction for the Lions this season?
BW: I’ll go with 11-6. They’ll split with the Vikings, and it’ll come down to the final week to see which team wins the NFC North crown. I want to believe it’ll be the Vikings, but if it isn’t them, I think it’ll be the Lions.
CG: I think this division is going to end up coming down to the Bears and the Lions this season (and, yes, it still feels weird to say that). I said in the Bears roundtable piece that I think the Bears are going to end up taking the North for the second consecutive year, and I believe I put them somewhere in the 11-6/12-5 range, so I’ll put the Lions a game behind them in the 10-7/11-6 range. I’m not sure where the difference between the two of them will come from, but I just have the feeling that the Bears will somehow manage to pull it off.
WL: 12-5. They have the easiest schedule in the league this season with two more easier games than other teams in the division that will help them a lot. But I feel like their window is closing.
