NFL to Feature Detroit Lions in Season Opener

NFL to Feature Detroit Lions in Season Opener

11 May, 2023

The Detroit Lions have gone six seasons without making the playoffs. They’ve gone 31 postseason games without a victory. The majority of the time, they only become widely known after they lose on Thanksgiving Day and fans around the nation bemoan their continued hold on the early holiday television window.

Detroit had a poor start to the season. Even though the Lions ended the regular season on a winning streak, they were unable to make the playoffs and had virtually no notable players. Ask the typical supporter to name a Lion. Aidan Hutchinson, a defensive end? doubted quarterback Jared Goff? Dan Campbell, the head coach?

This is not the offseason acquisition of Aaron Rodgers by the New York Jets.

Even still, there are already a lot of signs that Detroit will be television’s unlikely, or at least non-traditional, darling before the complete NFL schedule is announced on Thursday.

The Lions will take the field in the league’s inaugural night game against the Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Thursday, Sept. 7.

It’s perhaps the most well-known a regular-season game can be. The idea of opening night was developed in 2002. Unsurprisingly, The Lions have never participated in it.

All of this occurs after Detroit had no regular-season games scheduled for prime time in the previous season. (Due to potential playoff implications, the Week 17 matchup versus Green Bay was flexed to Sunday night.) In essence, it was impossible to play a more secretive timetable.

These are heady, exhilarating, and days that the Lions have earned thanks to their 8-2 run towards the end of the 2022 campaign. In the race for the playoffs, Detroit’s dismal start proved to be too difficult to overcome, but by the conclusion, they were among the NFC’s top teams.

It was sufficient to defeat Green Bay at Lambeau and prevent the despised Packers from making the playoffs in what turned out to be Rodgers’ final game there. The emphasis is now on really winning the NFC North for the first time in thirty years since Rodgers’ departure.

How many games will be broadcast nationally this season in Detroit? How many Sunday afternoons at a late hour? The number of Mondays?

The NFL schedule release is typically just a fancy commercial event with no real meaning. Everyone is already aware of the opponents and venues for each team’s games. Sorting out the order is what’s left.

Finding out if any new clubs join the rotation of intense promotion often reserved for Super Bowl hopefuls or star players on the level of insurance commercials may be the only thing that causes controversy. Everything has an ebb and flow to it.

For instance, it makes sense that Jacksonville will be more prevalent this year than New England. That would have been absurd not so long ago.

But the Jaguars, led by youthful, well-known quarterback Trevor Lawrence, did make the playoffs last year.

And while the New York Jets are also anticipated to be successful next season, the addition of Rodgers has a significant impact on that, making them more than just a non-playoff team on the rise.

Detroit hasn’t accomplished anything and hasn’t added any notable newcomers. All of this is projection for a group of players that general manager Brad Holmes assembled as a whole, rather than only focusing on one or two star players.

Without a question, Hutchinson had a fantastic first impression. And Goff is rather well-known, albeit a lot of that comes from his time playing for the Los Angeles Rams. The reason he was sent to Detroit two years ago was likely so that Los Angeles could acquire Matthew Stafford and take home the Super Bowl.

Jared Goff’s snapshot
Jared Goff, QB, DET, Season 2022–2023

4438 yards total and 261.1 Yds, Y/G, 29 TD, and 99.3 QBRat

It’s not exactly a name-brand lineup aside from that. Holmes and Campbell don’t mind at all. Nothing else in Detroit has been successful throughout the years. Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson are examples of franchise talent from a previous generation. Maybe assembling a strong, well-rounded team will solve the problem.

In addition, success creates names rather than the other way around.

Naturally, the Lions’ current problem will be winning, which has always been a problem for them. The spotlight is advantageous. Nobody is avoiding the expectations. Both the team and the fan base are fired up. Can the Lions finally establish that they merit some consideration?

This summer, Holmes stated, “Look, we don’t want to take a step back. “We don’t want to remain inactive. We are grateful for and quite pleased of the success we enjoyed last year, but we were unable to advance.

The objective has been established: division title, postseason, and possibly more.

And once that timeline is revealed, America will probably have plenty of opportunities to watch and see if it is accomplished, regardless of the history, both recent and ancient.