DETROIT – The Detroit Lions now know what the road back to the playoffs will look like.
The National Football League released the team’s full schedule on Wednesday night.
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This franchise has risen to the top of the NFL in recent years, but in 2025, it will face several of the league’s best teams.
The Lions are tied for the second strongest schedule in the league this year.
When adding up the records of their opponents from the 2024 season, the total win percentage of those teams is .571.
Last season, that opponent’s win percentage was .509. The year before that? .495. This year will be a drastic jump in difficulty.
The home schedule (on paper) is not terrible.
Of course, they have division rivals, the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings, at home.
Two teams that made a push for the NFC North. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers return this season, a team that won the NFC South.
But the rest? Not the worst draw for Detroit.
The Pittsburgh Steelers did finish the year 10-7 last season, but they’re still searching for a quarterback in 2025.
Half of the Lions’ eight games at Ford Field will be against teams that finished below .500.
The New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns, and Chicago Bears were a combined 18-50 last season.
The road is where things get interesting for this team.
The win percentage of the Lions’ home opponents in 2025: a winnable .463%
The win percentage of the Lions’ road opponents in 2025: an incredible .667%
The Lions will be on the road more than at home this season, with nine away games, and those matchups are against a who’s who of the NFL’s top teams.
The Philadelphia Eagles, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Washington Commanders, and that’s just the start.
Seven of the road opponents made the playoffs last year. Eight finished with a winning record.
The Lions won all of their road games last year, including three outdoors.
“We’re built for this,” Dan Campbell emphatically said after a win at rainy Lambeau Field in 2024.
This year, we’ll find out if the Lions are built to last in those types of games. Seven of their nine road games will be played outdoors.
That being said, the timing of those outdoor games plays into the Lions’ favor. Six of the seven games played in the elements will occur in mid-November or earlier.
The only December/January outdoor game in the regular season will be in Chicago in the last game of the year.
Not bad considering the number of tough opponents where cold weather could be a factor late in the season.
Most oddsmakers have the over/under at 10.5 wins for the Lions this season.
Winning at home is priority number one for any team, and the Lions have a favorable slate of games in Detroit.
Making the playoffs will hinge on whether the Lions can rise on the road against some of the other top teams in the NFL.