We've come a long way since football fans were begging the league to take the Detroit Lions off the Thanksgiving schedule, since they couldn't put together competitive teams. Dan Campbell has led a renaissance in Detroit, turning the Lions from laughingstock to marquee attraction by building a gritty winner that embodies the spirit of their home city.
Although the 2024 season ended in disappointment as the Lions were upset by Washington in the Divisional Round, the core of Detroit's team is still intact and poised to make another deep postseason run. Campbell will have a significant challenge ahead of him as the Lions need to break in two new coordinators after Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn landed head coaching jobs after the season.
Detroit Lions' 2025 Opponents
It took until Week 18 for the Lions to win the historically strong NFC North last season and they will have their hands full with their traditional division rivals. The AFC North and NFC East are also on tap for Detroit this season, which means an additional four playoff teams on their schedule and two other contenders (Cincinnati and Dallas) who could bounce back in 2025.
Finishing in first place will also result in tougher placement games for the Lions, who add dates with the Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs to their slate. The Chiefs game, which is a rematch of the 2023 Kickoff Game that saw the Lions announce their arrival with an upset of the defending champs, will be back at Arrowhead Stadium as the AFC is the conference slated for nine home games this season. Check the table below for a full list of Detroit's opponents.
Home | Week | Date/Time | Road | Week | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago Bears | Chicago Bears | ||||
Green Bay Packers | Green Bay Packers | ||||
Minnesota Vikings | Minnesota Vikings | ||||
Cleveland Browns | Baltimore Ravens | ||||
Pittsburgh Steelers | Cincinnati Bengals | ||||
Dallas Cowboys | Philadelphia Eagles | ||||
New York Giants | Washington Commanders | ||||
Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Los Angeles Rams | ||||
Kansas City Chiefs |
Detroit Lions' Schedule Leaks
There haven't been any leaks from Detroit's schedule as of post time, but this space will be updated if any leaks emerge between now and the official schedule release on Wednesday night.
Key Matchups For The Lions In 2025
With 11 games on their schedule against teams that made the playoffs in 2024, Detroit will be a marquee attraction for the NFL this year. The Lions closed the 2024 regular season with a historic NFC North title game against the Minnesota Vikings and their rematch should take on a new level of intrigue with J.J. McCarthy set to take over at quarterback for the departed Sam Darnold.
Green Bay also stands out as a formidable test for the Lions, who have begun to take out their frustrations on the Packers for nearly two decades of beatings at the hands of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Detroit swept the season series last season and notably ended Rodgers' Packers career in 2022 by knocking Green Bay out of the playoffs in the final game of that season.
The two Bears games will also offer a reunion for Campbell with Johnson, who took over as Chicago's head coach in the offseason. Johnson has been hard at work trying to build the Bears in the image of his former team so those matchups will offer a chance to see how much progress Chicago has made.
Detroit is also set to square off with three of the four teams that made the conference championship games last season, with the lone exception being the Buffalo Bills. Two of those games (Kansas City and Washington) will be on the road and the Lions will surely look to get revenge against the Commanders for ruining their historic season.
2025 NFL Schedule Release Information
The NFL is planning to release the full 272-game schedule on Wednesday, May 14 at 8:00 p.m. ET with a special presentation on NFL Network. Even though most of the schedule will have leaked out by that point, the special still offers stand-alone value as a first look at analyzing the key aspects of the slate.
Another highlight of schedule release night is seeing how each team creates a funny social media video to promote their games. Detroit's 2024 schedule release video was a very fun concept as Tim and Sam Robinson came up with various off-beat ways to promote the release, setting a high bar for the Lions' social media department to match in 2025.