One year ago, the Detroit Lions were shut out of primetime. Not a single game on the 2022 NFL schedule featured the Lions playing under the lights on a national stage.
How things have changed in a year!
Thanks to a torrid finish to the 2022 season and a growing buzz around the league, the Lions will be featured three times. That includes the very first game of the season, opening Week 1 in Kansas City on Thursday Night Football on September 7th.
It’s quite a jump from last season’s schedule release, where Detroit was blanked from primetime national games. The Week 18 win over the Packers in Green Bay was flexed into the Sunday Night Football slot, but that was the Lions’ lone appearance.
After opening on Thursday night in Kansas City, the Lions are also in primetime in Week 4 in Green Bay–also on Thursday night–and Week 8 at home against the Raiders on Monday Night Football. Detroit will also play on Saturday night at Dallas in Week 17, another national game. That doesn’t count the traditional national broadcast for the Thanksgiving early afternoon game, which features the Packers in Ford Field.