Lions Coach Campbell Ready for Grueling Road Schedule in 2025
The Detroit Lions’ first-place finish in the NFC North last season means a tougher schedule ahead in 2025. They’re set to face the top teams in other divisions, like the NFC West (LA Rams), NFC South (Tampa Bay), and AFC West (Kansas City), as well as their own NFC North division rivals. Add to that the teams from the NFC East and AFC North both of which had five teams win at least nine games last year, including Super Bowl champs, the Philadelphia Eagles.
Heading into 2025, the Lions have the second toughest schedule in the NFL based on the win-loss records of their opponents in 2024 (165-124). Nine of their games are on the road, and they’ll face 12 teams that had winning records last season. But it’s the road games that stand out the most, with tough matchups in Kansas City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Washington, and Los Angeles. Four of those teams were division champs last year, and they collectively posted a 72-30 record.
Detroit also has three road games against NFC North foes Minnesota (14-2), Green Bay (11-6), and a Chicago team that’s expected to be much stronger than last season’s 5-12 performance.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell isn’t shying away from the challenge. He embraced the tough schedule when asked about it this week at the NFL Annual Meetings.
“This is a challenge,” he said. “We’re competitive, I’m competitive. So yeah, I love the thought of it, man. These are going to be outdoors, grass. I hope it rains, it’s mud, it’s everything, the whole deal. This is going to be a meat grinder, you know?”
Campbell also acknowledged that despite having a better roster than last season’s 15-2 team, the Lions could end up with a worse record.
“There is a chance that could happen,” he said. “That’s OK. As long as we learn from what those are and we get better coming out of them, we’ll be good.”
At home, the Lions will face tough opponents like Minnesota (14-3), Green Bay (11-6), Tampa Bay (10-7), Pittsburgh (10-7), Dallas (7-10), Chicago (5-12), New York Giants (3-14), and Cleveland (3-14).
Campbell’s main hope is that this challenging schedule helps the team grow and prepares them for a deep playoff run win or lose.
