If you subscribe to the belief that “Vegas knows everything,” the Detroit Lions are expected to take a step backwards in 2025. After winning 12 games in 2023 and 15 games in 2024, BetMGM Sportsbook has the Lions’ Over/Under win total listed at 10.5
There was not an exodus of talent, though the losses of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn in the same offseason could dictate a lower win total; however, it’s likely the Lions’ 2025 schedule plays a significant role.
The Lions and rival Chicago Bears are tied in having the second-toughest schedule in the NFL if you go off of opponents’ combined win percentage from last season. If you’d rather trust Warren Sharp’s model, which utilizes forecasted win totals, the Lions have the third-toughest schedule behind the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants. Despite the gauntlet ahead of him, Lions coach Dan Campbell is excited about this opportunity.
“We’ve gotten to where we’ve gotten because we haven’t been complacent and we have gone and put the work in again,” Campbell said, per NFL.com. “Done all the little things that you have to do to win games and win the division again, so we’ve got to do that all over again. And yeah, they do have to play us.”
He continued: “I just think the challenge of it is what you really love. It’s why you love this game. The NFL, that’s why it’s at its best. Not only here at home, our own division, going on the road, I mean some of these teams, it’s awesome, man. To me, by the end of the year we ought to be just scarred up. We should be scarred up and ready to go, hardened for battle, and ready for the playoffs. It’ll be nothing easy about it. Just to get through our own division is gonna be brutal, but it’s the right kind of brutal.”
The Lions will have to be ready to win on the road in 2025. Eight of Detroit’s nine road games come against teams that finished above .500 last season, which is the most in NFL history. Two of the nine road games come against the two teams that played in Super Bowl LIX.
In the first six weeks of the season, the Lions will play at Green Bay, at Baltimore, at Cincinnati and at Kansas City. Then, at the end of the year, the Lions will be the only team in the NFL that has to close out the season with two straight divisional road matches (at Minnesota and at Chicago).
Lions road opponents in 2025
Campbell believes the “scarring” will ultimately help his team. The Lions embarked on a franchise-record 11-game win streak in 2024 while setting team records for wins (15), points per game (33.2) and point differential (+222), but Detroit also became just the second 15-win team in NFL history to lose its playoff opener. Maybe the Lions won’t win 15 games in 2025, but they could be better prepared for a Super Bowl run.
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