Put the passports away, Lions fans. The team will not be making any overseas trips to play in the 2022 regular season.
The NFL released the five teams that will be hosting games in England, Germany and Mexico during the 2022 campaign. Detroit is not one of the teams, and the rules of scheduling effectively eliminate the Lions from being a road opponent of any of the five host teams.
All international games are set as AFC vs. NFC, which automatically rules out the New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers from hosting the Lions abroad. The only AFC team hosting an international game is the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Lions do not play Jacksonville on the road in 2022. Detroit will host the Jaguars in Ford Field at some point in the upcoming season.
Put more simply by John Sigler of Saints Wire,
Here are the 2022 NFL international series matchup options:
London#Saints: Bengals, Raiders, Ravens#Packers: Patriots, Jets, Titans#Jaguars: Giants, Cowboys
Germany#Bucs: Chiefs, Bengals, Ravens
Mexico#Cardinals: Chiefs, Chargers, Patriots
— John Sigler (@john_siglerr) February 28, 2022
The NFL schedule of specific opponents and weeks will be released later in the offseason.