The NFL Draft is behind us, but one of the most anticipated days on the league’s calendar is around the corner. The 2025 schedule will be released on May 14, and while we already know who the Detroit Lions will be facing next season, the reveal will give the information on when and where.
It gives Lions fans a lot of possibilities when considering the opening game of the season. Amon-Ra St. Brown has already declared he wants to travel to the Philadelphia Eagles to ruin their Super Bowl celebration in Week 1. Fans may want to take on the Chicago Bears, who poached offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as their next head coach.
But while the Eagles and the Bears would create must-see television, it may be a different opponent that is their best matchup and it could happen within the unfriendly confines of their own division.
Vikings Would be Perfect Week 1 Opponent for Lions
The Lions perfect opponent could be in their backyard judging by a conversation by Minnesota Vikings beat writer Alec Lewis of The Athletic. Lewis was talking to Vikings radio analyst Pete Bercich on the latest episode of “The Alec Lewis Show" and wondered aloud about the possibility of the Vikings squaring off with a divisional opponent in Week 1.
“I think the NFC North is going to be, I think, pretty wide open this year and…I was having some conversation the last couple of days, like you might get tested from the get go,” Lewis said. “I mean, it might be one of those three teams in this division from the very beginning.”
Lewis doesn't list a specific source in his musings, and there's a chance he's just musing about the possibility that Minnesota matches up with any divisional opponent in Week 1. But if the NFL wants to go that route for the Lions, it makes sense.
The Lions won the NFC North with a record of 15-2 but Minnesota and Detroit entered the final week of the regular season tied with a 14-2 record and the division title came down to a Week 18 showdown in Detroit. But while many consider other teams in the NFC a bigger threat after the Vikings lost Sam Darnold, it would be the best scenario to see them in Week 1.
The Vikings are likely to install J.J. McCarthy as their starting quarterback in the coming months. Lions fans could be curious to how the Michigan product ends up but they could also take advantage of a young quarterback making his first career start. This becomes an even bigger advantage if McCarthy has to make that start at Ford Field.
Lewis also noted that the Vikings have several adjustments to make with three new starters (Ryan Kelly, Will Fries, and rookie Donovan Jackson) along an offensive line that failed to give Darnold time to throw in Week 18. If the Lions took advantage, it could give them a victory to start the season and an important tiebreaker that could keep them in front of Minnesota for most of the season.
But that might not matter to the league as much as the matchup’s ability to generate ratings. Detroit and Minnesota put up crazy ratings after 28.5 million people tuned in to watch their Week 18 matchup. According to NBC Sports, it was the third-most watched game since the network started airing Sunday Night Football in 2006 and showed the drawing power of a division that had an 11-win team in the Green Bay Packers and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Caleb Williams.
Scheduling the Vikings and the Lions in Week 1 also allows the league to keep some of Detroit’s bigger games in their back pocket, including the trip to Philadelphia, another road game at the Kansas City Chiefs and a home game against the perennial national television magnet, the Dallas Cowboys.
It may be disappointing if Lions fans see “Minnesota” next to their name in Week 1. But it could be their best matchup as they look to cash in on their Super Bowl potential for next season.