After topping the Minnesota Vikings in the season finale — securing the division title and NFC’s No. 1 seed — we now know the full slate of opponents the Detroit Lions will face during the 2025 season.
Most were determined well ahead of Sunday night, per the NFL’s standard schedule rotation. Teams from one division play a rotating division from the NFC and AFC each year. In 2025, the NFC North will match up against the NFC East and AFC North.
Along with the six intradivision games, those eight rotating divisional contests account for 14 of 17 games each season. The remaining three are determined by where a team finishes in their division standings.
As the first-place finisher in the NFC North, the Lions will play the first-place teams in the remaining two NFC divisions — the South and West — in addition to a rotating AFC division. That one is the 17th game the league added to the schedule in 2021. For Detroit, it will be the AFC West winner.
Note that the home and road elements of the schedule are also based on rotations. There’s no randomness to which games will be played at Ford Field or an opposing stadium each season, outside the possibility of a game being played internationally.
Finally, since the Lions played nine home games in 2024, they’ll be on the road for nine next year. Now that we understand the details, here’s the breakdown:
Home
Chicago Bears
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
New York Giants
Pittsburgh Steelers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Away
Chicago Bears
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Rams
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Commanders
