Tag: Detroit Lions schedule

2024 NFL offseason calendar for Lions fans

The key dates and events Lions fans need to know for the offseason

The Lions’ offseason started back on January 8, 2023, but this year it ends on January 28.

The journey this team is on was way ahead of schedule for someone rebuilding. For this team to be here so quickly, an NFC Championship, it speaks to how well the front office and coaching staff are working together. That isn’t common for most teams to have such unison, Lions fans are lucky for once it appears.

The show goes on, however, and that means looking ahead to key dates on the offseason calendar. The NFL Draft and all the events leading up to them are already around the corner. This is your ultimate guide to the offseason and all the dates needed to follow.

49ers edge Packers, will host NFC Championship game

49ers edge Packers, will host NFC Championship game even if the Lions beat the Buccaneers

It was hard not to dream about the Detroit Lions hosting the NFC Championship game as the postseason rolled into the second weekend. Sure, two outcomes had to happen first — most notably the Lions beating the Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon.

Dream another dream, that dream is over before the Lions even played. That’s because the San Francisco 49ers held off the Green Bay Packers in a very close game on Saturday night. Niners LB Dre Greenlaw picked off Packers QB Jordan Love for the second time of the game on Green Bay’s final drive, sealing a 24-21 comeback win in Santa Clara.

Because the 49ers are the top seed, they will host the NFC Championship game next Sunday no matter who wins the Lions-Buccaneers game. The Lions host Tampa Bay for the right to move on and play for a shot to get into the Super Bowl.

NFL wild card Monday and its impact on the Lions

NFL wild card Monday and its impact on the Lions and their next playoff game

The Detroit Lions after 31 years are now looking ahead to the divisional round of the playoffs. With that comes the eagerness to know who the Lions will host for another home playoff game and on Monday night they will have that answer.

After the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Buffalo Bills are done playing in the snow, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles will face off. We know the winner of that, based on earlier results, will be who the Lions play host to. To go even further, the time and viewing place is also already in place, with it taking place at 3:00 PM EST on NBC.

The Lions will get a full week’s rest with no change to the schedule they carry most of the year from Monday to Sunday.

The impact of the full week being in play should allow for Sam LaPorta to continue to rehab from his knee injury. The rookie tight end played against the Rams on was able to make what would be the last and most important touchdown of the game.

One last important note: the last matchup the Lions had with the Buccaneers came in Week 6 of this season. They won 20-6, with Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown leading the way for the entire team. Their last matchup with the Eagles came in 2022 during the opening week of the season. They lost that game 38-35, but it took the Eagles to make a game-winning field goal to knock them out.

Either way, next week’s game is going to be another one for the ages.

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Lions home and away opponents are set for the 2024 regular season

The exact sequence of games and dates/times won’t come out for a few months, but here is who the Lions will play in 2024.

The end of the 2023 regular season isn’t the end of Detroit Lions football, a very welcome change. But the NFC North champion Lions do get to look ahead a bit at who Detroit will face in the 2024 regular season.

Next year’s opponents for home and the road are now set. They’re based on the final standings from this past regular season and the inter-divisional matchup rotation. The Lions finished first in the NFC North, so they get a first-place schedule in 2024.

The exact sequence of games and dates/times won’t come out for a few months, but here is who the Lions will play in 2024.

 

Lions vs. Rams will be Sunday night feature game in the wild card round

Lions vs. Rams will be Sunday night feature game in the wild card round

The Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams will meet in the featured time slot of the wild card round weekend. The much-anticipated game will be played on Sunday night in prime time.

The NFL spans six games over the course of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night. The first-ever postseason game in Ford Field will be broadcast on NBC and Peacock with an 8:15 p.m. ET kickoff.

The three AFC games will be played first, followed by the NFC games. The Lions and Rams are the middle game of the NFC slate. The Eagles and Buccaneers game is on Monday night.

Lions schedule set for the Week 18 matchup with the Vikings

Lions schedule set for the Week 18 matchup with the Vikings

The NFL doesn’t set dates or times for the final weekend of action until the Week 17 action concludes. When the Packers domination of the Vikings was near its merciful end on Sunday night, the league released the full slate for Week 18.

The Lions will host the Vikings in Ford Field at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, January 7th. With the Lions locked into the No. 3 seed, barring losses by the Cowboys and Eagles, and the Vikings in need of considerable assistance to sneak into the No. 7 seed in the NFC, their Week 18 finale isn’t deemed one of the games worthy of juicier time slots on Saturday or Sunday.

Last year, the Lions prevented the Packers from making the playoffs with a win in Green Bay in the final regular season game of the 2022 season.

The Lions have now swept two different divisions in 2023

The Lions have now swept two different divisions in 2023 after beating the Broncos in Week 15

Saturday night’s win over the Denver Broncos completed quite a feat for the Detroit Lions. The 42-17 win gave them victories over all four teams in the AFC West division this year: Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders and now the Broncos.

It is the second divisional sweep of the season for the Lions. Detroit previously capped off a four-game blanking of the NFC South. The Lions scored victories over the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints, who they knocked off in New Orleans in Week 13 to wrap up that divisional sweep.

There isn’t a banner or anything for pulling off such a feat, but that could come next Sunday.

The 10-4 Lions can clinch the NFC North division title in Week 16 when they face the Minnesota Vikings for the first of two meetings in the final three weeks with the current second-place Vikings. Minnesota fell to 7-7 with an overtime loss to Cincinnati earlier on Saturday, the Vikings’ third loss in four games.

 

NFL flexes Lions vs. Broncos to a prime time Saturday slot

The Lions and Broncos will face off on a Saturday night in prime time in Week 15

For months, the Lions’ Week 15 matchup against the Denver Broncos has had a “TBD” for the scheduled date and time. The TBD has now been determined.

In a press release, the NFL set the time for the Lions-Broncos game in Ford Field for Saturday, December 16th at 8:15 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast nationally on the NFL Network.

The matchup keeps getting more appealing by the week. Detroit is 8-3 and running away with the NFC North. The Broncos, meanwhile, have the NFL’s longest winning streak in improving from 1-5 to 6-5 and have worked their way back into the AFC playoff picture.

Detroit Lions remaining games ranked from easiest to hardest

A look at the remaining nine games for Detroit, ranked from the easiest to the most difficult as they appear from Week 10.

No games in the NFL are easy. Even the best teams invariably have a weird slip-up or two, and bottom-feeders rise up and pull off surprises almost weekly across the league.

Having said that, some games do appear easier than others. That is certainly true for the nine remaining games on the Detroit Lions regular season schedule. The playoff push is real for Detroit, and the relatively manageable schedule from Week 10 on out is part of the reason why the 6-2 Lions have a legit chance for a postseason bye in the NFC.

They’ll need to take care of business, of course. Let’s look at the remaining nine games for Detroit, ranked from the easiest to the most difficult as they appear from Week 10.

 

The 5 most intriguing games on the Detroit Lions schedule in 2023

These five games stand out as the most interesting and integral to the Lions’ success in 2023

The Detroit Lions kick off the 2023 NFL season with a visit to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1. The Thursday Night Football game gets a national audience and all sorts of attention for a Lions team perceived to be on the rise up the standings and in position for the team’s first playoff berth since 2016.

All 17 games have their own draws and storylines. We will watch them all, of course. However, there are five that stand out as the most interesting and integral to the Lions’ success in 2023.