The NFC North race could come down to whether Detroit can win in Minnesota in December, and in Chicago and Green Bay in January.
The Lions, who are currently the betting favorites to win the NFC North, play their three division road games in the final four weeks of the season.
Detroit is at Minnesota in Week 15 on Sunday, December 20. After playing the Giants at home in Week 16, the Lions finish the season at Chicago in Week 17 on Sunday, January 3, and at Green Bay in Week 18, which could be either Saturday, January 9, or Sunday, January 10.
It’s a tough road stretch to end the season, but the Lions also get a nice home stretch in the middle of their season: After their Week Six bye, the Lions play five of their next six games at home, including all three of their division home games.
That home stretch will give the Lions a good chance of building a lead in the division. But winning the division will likely require winning on the road at the end of the season.
We don’t know if Fernando Mendoza will be starting at quarterback for the Raiders in Week 1 of the regular season, but we do know who the Raiders will be playing in the first overall pick’s potential debut.
The NFL’s schedule reveal on Thursday night shows that the Raiders will host the Dolphins at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 13. The game will be on Fox.
Mendoza will have to get the nod over Kirk Cousins in order to start for the Raiders. Offseason addition Malik Willis is expected to make his first appearance for the Dolphins. Both teams will definitely have head coaches making their offseason debut as Las Vegas hired Klint Kubiak in February and Miami hired Jeff Hafley in January.
Sunday will also feature a pair of divisional games in the late afternoon window. The Packers will visit the Vikings while the Commanders will be in Philadelphia to renew their acquaintance with the Eagles. The NFC North matchup will be on CBS while the NFC East clash will be broadcast by Fox.
The other late game on Sunday afternoon will see the Cardinals visiting the Chargers on CBS. Arizona could have Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew or rookie Carson Beck at quarterback for that contest.
The 1 p.m. ET games will send the Bills to Houston for a date with the Texans while the Browns go on the road against the Jaguars. The Colts will host the Ravens, the Saints will visit the Lions, the Buccaneers will travel to Cincinnati for Dexter Lawrence’s first game as a Bengal, and the Steelers will kick off the Mike McCarthy era — with or without Aaron Rodgers — at home against the Falcons.
Previous reports revealed that the Jets will be in Tennessee and that the Bears will head to Charlotte to face the Panthers. The Jets-Titans game will be on CBS along with the Bills-Texans, Ravens-Colts and Browns-Jaguars games. All the other 1 p.m. games will be on Fox.
The entire Week 1 slate will kick off on Wednesday, September 9 with a Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl rematch in Seattle on NBC. Thursday will bring a Netflix game between the 49ers and Rams in the NFL’s first game in Melbourne and Sunday night will find the Cowboys at MetLife Stadium to meet the Giants on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Those games were all announced ahead of Thursday’s full schedule reveal, which was also the case for the ESPN Monday night game between the Broncos and Chiefs in Kansas City.
The NFL announced the matchups for its first Thanksgiving Eve game and all three Thanksgiving games ahead of Thursday night’s schedule reveal, so the only thing left to announce for the three-day holiday spread of games was the Black Friday matchup.
That game will feature the Broncos visiting the Steelers in a game that will start at 3 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.
It will be the first time that either franchise has played a Black Friday game. The NFL first held a game on the day after Thanksgiving in 2023 and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that the league is considering ways to add a second game.
That is what they’ve done with the Thanksgiving Eve game. It will involve the Packers visiting the Rams on Wednesday night in a game broadcast by Netflix.
Thanksgiving’s schedule will start in Detroit as usual. The Lions will host the Bears at 1 p.m. ET on CBS and the Eagles will visit the Cowboys on Fox at 4:30 p.m. ET. Thursday’s action will conclude with the Chiefs in Buffalo to face the Bills at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC.
As more of the 2026 schedule gets revealed before the full unveiling at 8 p.m. ET, we now know another Week 1 matchup between a pair of NFC teams.
Per Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football, the Saints and Lions will play each other in Detroit to open the season.
Detroit’s Week 2 opponent had already been revealed, as the club will be on the road to face Buffalo as the Bills open Highmark Stadium on Thursday Night Football.
The exact time of the Week 1 contest between the Saints and Lions has not yet been disclosed.
Detroit and New Orleans last faced one another in 2023, with the Lions coming away with a 33-28 victory at the Superdome. Quarterback Jared Goff threw for 213 yards with a pair of touchdowns in that game.
With the Lions missing the postseason at 9-8 in 2025 and the Saints finishing the season 6-11 in Kellen Moore’s first year as head coach, this Week 1 contest is a sneaky intriguing matchup between a pair of 2026 postseason hopefuls.
One of the NFL’s oldest rivalries will reportedly be involved in the 2026 Thanksgiving slate.
The Bears are set to face the Lions in Detroit on November 26, per a report from NFL reporter Jordan Schultz. The two teams also played on Thanksgiving in 2024 and have met on the holiday five times since the start of the 2014 season.
Detroit won both games between the NFC North teams in 2025, which means that Bears head coach Ben Johnson is still looking for his first win against the team that employed him as their offensive coordinator from 2022-2024.
The NFL has already announced that the Eagles will be in Dallas for another of this year’s Thanksgiving games. They’ve also announced that the Lions will be in Buffalo for a Thursday night game in Week 2.
