Detroit Lions schedule rumors: Lions get Packers in week 17 again
By Zac Snyder
By process of elimination we know that the Detroit Lions will play a week 17 game against the Green Bay Packers for the third year in a row.
The NFL will release the 2018 regular season schedule tonight at 8 p.m. but parts are already starting to be reported. Some are direct, like the Patriots coming to take on the Detroit Lions in week three, while others can be figured out based on other known information.
It’s that second category that has revealed some information about the Lions’ schedule for week 17.
According to a report from Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings will play their two division games in weeks 11 and 17.
"The Bears host the Vikings in Week 11 at Soldier Field in their first look at quarterback Kirk Cousins in a Minnesota uniform. The NFC North rivals will finish the season in Week 17 at Minnesota. That game will mark the fifth time in eight years the teams have closed out the regular season in Minnesota."
Because the league has already revealed that week 17 will feature all division games, that leaves the Lions and Green Bay Packers to meet in week 17.
The Packers have been in Detroit for the last two regular season finales so it might be hard to justify running that streak to three. A 2018 finale against the Packers will make it four times in the last five seasons that the two teams have ended the regular season against each other.
A late-season trip to Lambeau Field also means potentially nasty weather as the tundra will certainly be frozen by that point in the year.
[Update: Rob Demovsky’s report adds that the week 17 game will be in Green Bay.]