Most Lions fans walked away from the 2025 NFL season feeling pretty disappointed. While the team finished with a (9-8) winning record, it was inevitably one where expectations were not met. In saying that, the team was unlucky at times, and a couple of calls here and there may have transformed the season.
But the upshot is that a team that was close to the top of the Super Bowl LX odds in September finished bottom of the NFC North in January, failing to make the Playoffs. The question now, though, is what happens in 2026. Beyond new arrivals and the draft, we can say that things might get a bit easier as the Lions have a much easier SoS (strength of schedule) in 2026. For the 2025 season, it was one of the toughest in the NFL, but for 2026, it’s one of the easiest, with opponents posting a combined win rate of 0.467 in 2025.
Here’s the Lions’ opponents, with dates and times yet to be confirmed:
Home: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, NY Giants, NY Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans
Away: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Miami Dolphins
You can easily pick out some tough games in that run, including the Super Bowl bound Patriots and the perennially-tough Bills at Highmark Stadium, yet there are numerous winnable games away from the Lions’ divisional opponents. As it stands today, you’d have the Lions as pre-game favorites against the Saints, Giants, Jets, Titans, Cardinals, Falcons and Dolphins.
Improvements needed against divisional rivals
One thing that will need to change, though, is performances against NFC North opponents, with the Lions going 2-4 against divisional rivals last term. They were 6-0 against NFC North teams in 2024, which went a long way to securing the No.1 seed spot in the NFC. Any improvement made in the 2026 season would be most welcome.
Of course, that is easier said than done. The NFC North was ranked as the toughest division in the NFL in 2025; the only division where all teams posted a winning record across the regular season. The division also put three teams in the postseason in 2024. It’s tough, and whatever happens in the 2026 offseason, it will be tough again in September.
Yet, overall, there should be a sense of optimism for the Lions going into 2026. It is a tweakable team, not one that needs a major overhaul. There is work to be done for Dan Campbell, and the tactics laid down by new OC Drew Petzing are going to be crucial to get the offense buzzing like it was in 2024.
But one cannot help but look at the Lions’ schedule and feel it looks generous. To be sure, the 2025 season somewhat showed there can be a futility in using a metric like SoS, as so many successful teams in 2024 struggled in 2025, but it is still a useful broad metric to show what sort of challenge you are up against.
At the very least, Campbell and his team should be looking at improving on the 9-8 record posted in 2025, getting into double-figures for wins, and making the Playoffs is the least of the fans’ expectations. The fans’ hopes are a different matter, because they want something much better than that from a team that, on paper, still looks like one of the NFL’s best.
