Many teams we play (6 I think?) have a short week before meeting us. This is amazing, but I have to double check the numbers. Only one cold game (Bears). Great time for the week off. These features can help offset an otherwise tough schedule.
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Herein lies the reasoning for drafting the trenches and overloading on core ST to fill in the bottom of the roster and practice squad.
We learned the hard way that we needed more depth along the lines with the big guys to sub in & out and rotate and limit snaps as needed to keep guys fresh.
This strategy will play out well with a tough road schedule and the overall wear and tear of a season. We didn’t manage “pitch counts” as well as we could have last year and it lead to a one and done postseason appearance. Fool me once…
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It’s an absolute crook that the Lions gained some huge advantage against the Vikings for their November 2nd match up.
The Lions play on Monday Night football on 20 October, then get their Bye, then play the Vikings on 2 November.
The Vikings play the Chargers on Thursday Night Football on 23 Oct and then get 10 days off before playing the Lions on 2 November.
Bottom Line…
It’s a 3 freaking day difference.
Lions get a 13 day break before the November 2nd match up
Vikings get a 10 day break before the November 2nd match up.
Who knows. Maybe they’ll give O’Connell Coach of the Year again for having to endure this unprecedented 3 day advantage that the NFL has bestowed upon the Lions.
STFU @Adam Patrick
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The Lions were great on the Road last year.
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Bold strategy…unfortunately I need to plan, as I dont have time to jerk around all day, I mean, I fit it in, but I’m a very busy person!
Bears have the week 4 bye, so it will be 13 straight games for them by the time we go to Chicago to close the season.
- I guarantee Swift wont be healthy.
- Rookie wall for Loveland
- While team will be knicked up and as we saw, the street FA pile gets lean real fast.
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Still weird seeing us on this end of the graphic.
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Lions vs Opponents Rest Differential.
Last game played and 2 games back.
Lions look GREAT across the board.
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How times have changed. Remember when the lions were on the bottom?
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Yea it was 2022.
shoot we play 90% of these teams every year, no reason to be nervous about any of them, maybe KC…
Baltimore is the only team that scares me. Eagles, and KC will be fun, but they don’t scare me and neither do any other team on the schedule. Like, at all. People say its a tough schedule. Looks fine to me.
Full PreSeason is out.
HOF - DET v LAC @ Canton Thur 7/31 8PM NBC
PS1 - DET@ATL Fri 8/8 7PM
PS2 - MIA@DET Sat 8/16 1pm
PS3 - HOU@DET Sat 8/23 1pm
The Athletic has an article showing the odds of each team to make the playoffs and to win the Super Bowl. Of the top 12 teams, Detroit has 11 of them on their schedule. Danimal Campbell wants to play all 12. Unfortunately, Detroit is 5th on the list and playing themselves is against the rules…
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Morgan Freeman voice: For 11 teams, the Super Bowl came early that year.
Its even worse than that. I will explain in my next post.
Good catch! As a degenerate gambler (hehe), I have made alot of money understanding how much the previous weeks game plays into who wins or loses the following week. As Lions fans, we are used to being screwed by the schedule. We sucked most of those years, but we did get screwed along the way. For years we complained that the Packers never seemed to have to end the season at Detroit. In 2016 the NFL gave us what we wanted. But they put their thumbs on the scale as an F-U! The Packers played the Vikings at home on Saturday before the game. We had to go to Dallas to play on Monday Night. Recovery time is at a premium late in the season.
The 2025 Lions season seems to be set up for success. The opponents and the home/away schedule is locked in stone and out of their control. But the way the game set up each week is…interesting. The Packers consistently get the golden glove treatment. This year, we certainly can’t complain about it. 
Here is a quick rundown:
Week 1 @ Packers - No advantage either way.
Week 2 vs Bears - The Bears will have a short week, playing the Vikings on MNF the week before.
Week 3 @ Ravens (MNF) - No advantage either way.
Week 4 vs Browns - The Browns have an advantage, as we are playing the Ravens on MNF the week before.
Week 5 @ Bengals - The Bengals have a short week, playing AT DENVER on MNF the week before!!!
Week 6 @ Chiefs - The Chiefs have a short week, playing AT Jacksonville on MNF the week before.
Week 7 vs Bucs (MNF) - This one is interesting. We should have a disadvantage going into week 8. However, the league gave us a BYE week in week 8, negating our disadvantage. Also, midseason byes are considered the best. The league gave us one this year.
Week 8 BYE
Week 9 vs Vikings - The Vikings are playing on Thursday Night Football the week before. That should be an ADVANTAGE for them. However, since we have a bye week, it negates their advantage. Whenever teams have a Thursday game, it sucks for the players. However, they are reminded that it is a “mini-bye” and they will come in fresher than the next opponent. Not this time. They have a mini-bye, while we have a REAL bye. They also have to play their Thursday game AT the Chargers in LA. Ouch.
Week 10 @ Commanders - The Commanders have to play the Seahawks on Sunday Night Football the week before.
Week 11 @ Eagles - The Eagles will be playing AT the Packers on Monday Night the week before.
Week 12 vs Giants - No advantage either way.
Week 13 vs Packers - No advantage either way.
Week 14 vs Cowboys - We both play on Thanksgiving. We have a small advantage because they play after us, and they have to travel to Detroit the following Thursday.
Week 15 @ Rams - We will have a real “mini-bye” leading up to the Rams game.
Week 16 vs Steelers - Traveling to LA the previous week should have been a disadvantage for us. However, the Steelers have to play the Dolphins on Monday Night the week prior to our game. It negates the advantage.
Week 17 @ Vikings - This is a short week game on Xmas. We have to travel to Minny after playing at home vs the Steelers. But…the Vikings will have to travel to New York the week before this game.
Week 18 @ Bears - I teased this game in my previous post. From a scheduling standpoint, this is a golden ticket. We are going to play on Thursday the week before, giving us the mini-bye. That would already be an issue for the Bears. In this case it gets MUCH worse. They have to travel to San Fran to play the 49ers the week before. Ouch. But wait…it gets worse. That game is on Monday Night Football!!! A mini-bye vs a west coast travel short week. Ho-lee-fudge!!!
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Nice work. Sherman would be proud.
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