Getty Lions fans react to a gam in Washington.
The Detroit Lions’ 2021 schedule was revealed on Wednesday night and it’s clear when looking at the lineup, the league did the team absolutely no favors.
Detroit’s schedule strength, in spite of being a last place schedule, shakes out to be one of the toughest in the entire league. As Gil Brandt pointed out, the Lions are set to deal with a .529 winning percentage for their opponents next year. That shakes out to playing tons of teams that were above .500 last season.
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“Toughest” 2021 schedules:
1.Steelers .574
2.Ravens .563
3.Bears .55
4. Packers .542
5. Vikings .531
6t. Lions .529
6t.Bengals .529
8. Raiders .526
9. Browns .518
10. Rams.515
The reason for this anomaly? The Lions are playing the AFC North as a crossover, a division which had three strong teams in 2020. Detroit will also play the NFC West, with games against the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals, teams that finished solidly in 2020. Additionally, the team will play in the ever-difficult NFC North. Obviously, with this in mind, there’s nowhere to run and hide for the Lions next season.
Detroit might have one of their worst teams in a while considering they are in the process of rebuilding their roster, and that could mean a tough season with this schedule strength in mind.
Breaking Down Lions 2021 Schedule
Detroit wastes no time coming out of the gate with the tough games, as battles against Baltimore, Green Bay, Chicago and Minnesota take place in Week 2-4. After Detroit’s bye week in Week 9, the team will take on Pittsburgh and Cleveland, a couple teams that battled for the AFC North last season. Just ahead of that, the Lions will play the Rams and the Eagles in a couple difficult games. Detroit finishes up their season with battles against the Cardinals, Falcons, Seahawks and Packers in what is sure to be a very difficult run to end the year.
As a whole, there aren’t a lot of breaks on this schedule for the Lions, and it will be tough from start to finish for the team.
Lions 2021 Schedule Long Looked Difficult
As for Detroit’s schedule next season, there will be several tough games throughout. In spite of the fact that the Lions finished in last place during 2020, their schedule still looks pretty treacherous. The AFC North is loaded and features three high-rising teams in the Browns, Steelers and Ravens to go with a team that could have a bright future in the Bengals. Other than that, the Lions will tangle with the NFC West, which is another stacked division. Obviously, it will be tough to quantify how difficult Detroit’s schedule might be without knowing more about when and where the games are played. Still, it’s tough not to think about the daunting nature of the battles that loom for Detroit, even as they struggled with their 2020 work.
Detroit has a changed team and a changed roster, and it’s possible with this reset, they could have a changed team as well. Even such, it’s tough not to look at the schedule and think about what kind of battles loom in the future.
The team is going to have to fight hard simply to get by with this kind of schedule for next season.
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