Detroit Lions news: 2018 regular season schedule officially released

Detroit Lions news takes a look at the team’s 2018 regular season schedule before taking a look around at what else is being discussed around the web.

After a day of leaks, rumors and speculation, the NFL has finally released the Detroit Lions‘ 2018 regular season schedule. By the time the release show started at 8:00 p.m. ET, a good portion of the Lions’ schedule had already been leaked.

We knew the season opener would be a Monday Night Football home game against the New York Jets. We knew the Lions would play on the road at the San Francisco 49ers in week two. We knew the Lions would host the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football in week three.

We knew division games against the Chicago Bears would be in weeks 10 and 12, with the second meeting being the Thanksgiving Day game. We also knew that the Lions would play at the Green Bay Packers in week 17. Perhaps some other leaks came out in the final hours before the reveal.

Now we know the whole schedule.

A few quick reactions:

• The NFL obviously has no problem with taking the Lions’ Thanksgiving Day game and turning it into a regional game for a national audience. The Bears coming to Detroit for Thanksgiving means five of the last six years will see the Lions play a division opponent. The streak of NFC opponents now runs to six.
• When the trip to Lambeau Field will be is always one of the first thing I look for on schedule release day. That’s for obvious reasons, which also make obvious why I never like to see it so late in the season.
• Rod Wood has had some success with having his voice heard with some scheduling requests in the past but it wasn’t a clean sweep for him this season. The Lions did get the Patriots in a prime non-Thanksgiving slot but the Lions will have to make separate trips West to take on the 49ers and Cardinals. Wood had hoped to knock those out in back-to-back weeks.
• The Lions ticket office has to be pleased that the first two home games are primetime games. Those kinds of games are always good draws but can lose some luster later in the season if the win-loss record is not as good as the team would like. No such worry with prime games coming at the beginning of the season. (Remember that week three appearance on Sunday Night Football in 2015? Just the third game, and first home game, of what was eventually a 1-7 start.)
• A week 6 bye week is rather early and not ideal. Teams generally like a bye week more towards the middle of the season.

Here is a look at what other Detroit Lions news, notes, tidbits and whatnots are being discussed around the web.

More Detroit Lions news from around FanSided

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More Detroit Lions news from around the rest of the web

2018 NFL mock draft: Who should the Lions take in the second round?
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KEY QUESTIONS: What does Quinn look for in a first-round pick?
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Next: Lions seven-round mock draft 3.0