The Detroit Lions will play a first-place schedule in the 2025 NFL season for the second consecutive year, after winning the NFC North once again.
And their path to their first-ever appearance in the Super Bowl will be arduous.
And, because the NFL sets aside three cross-divisional games for each team based upon on where they finish in the division, the Lions will face a more difficult schedule on paper. They will face the first-place teams from the NFC West, NFC South and AFC West.
Of the six teams remaining in the playoffs entering Sunday’s divisional playoff games, the Lions will face five on the road in 2025: the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams.
The only team left that the Lions won’t face in the 2025 regular season is the Buffalo Bills.
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“Feels like one of those games would make a pretty good primetime opener,” Detroit Free Press Lions beat writer Dave Birkett wrote on X on Sunday.
That could be a Sunday night or even Monday night game in Week 1, though if one of the teams win the Super Bowl, there’s a possibility it could be the Thursday night season opener. The Lions opened the 2023 season at the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs and pulled out a 21-20 win.
The Lions will play 11 of their 17 games against teams coming off playoff berths, with seven on the road.
The Lions, like every NFC team, have nine road games and eight home games in 2025.
Here is the Lions schedule of opponents for 2025, with those teams’ 2024 regular-season record in parenthesis.
Lions 2025 home games
*Signifies team made playoffs.
- Bears (5-12)
- *Packers (11-6)
- *Vikings (14-3)
- Cowboys (7-10)
- Giants (3-14)
- Browns (3-14)
- *Steelers (10-7)
- *Buccaneers (10-7)
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Lions 2025 away games
- Bears (5-12)
- *Packers (11-6)
- *Vikings (14-3)
- *Commanders (12-5)
- *Eagles (14-3)
- Bengals (9-8)
- *Ravens (12-5)
- *Chiefs (15-2)
- *Rams (10-7)
NFL 2025 schedule release date announcement
The NFL typically reveals the entire upcoming season’s schedule in May. Last year, the NFL announced the 2024 schedule on May 15.
Stay tuned for the best Detroit Lions coverage all year long at freep.com/sports/lions.
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