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Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr argued Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions “got screwed” with the 2026 NFL schedule.
Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions are supposed to have an easier NFL schedule than the last couple years during 2026. Based on opponents win percentage from last season, they will.
But that doesn’t mean the league did them any other favors. In fact, to one NFL analyst, it seems as though the league might have done their best to make the Lions slate this fall harder in other ways.
Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr argued that point while including the Lions on a list of eight teams the NFL “screwed” with its 2026 schedule.
“I suppose I cannot complain too much about this one, given that the NFL has done almost precisely what I asked it to do: punish teams that have a very easy strength of schedule in other ways,” wrote Orr. “However, my rub with the Detroit schedule is incredibly specific.
“Just like I despise that both Rams-Seahawks games are within a three-week stretch to end the season, I really dislike all of Detroit’s road divisional games coming between Weeks 15 and 18.
“The Lions travel to Minnesota, Green Bay and Chicago all within the stretch of a month, creating a frantic period just before the playoffs in which the entire NFC North could change in complexion.”
This season, the Lions will play three of their final four games on the road. That’s tough regardless of who the opponents are.
But all three of those road opponents will be Detroit’s NFC North rivals.
On December 20, the Lions will visit the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football. Two weeks later, Campbell’s club takes a trip to face the Chicago Bears on January 3.
The Lions will cap off the season at the Green Bay Packers in Week 18.
NFL ‘Screwed’ Lions With 2026 Schedule?
It seems to be a growing pattern for the NFL to bunch a lot of division games at the end of the regular season. Doing so gives the league a higher likelihood of end of the year contests still meaning something.
With a lot of head-to-heads still in play in December, teams can quickly make up grow in division races.
Orr argued, though, that it comes at a cost for some teams. It also has a fabricated feel to it that doesn’t seem right even though a tight division race in December is the ultimate goal.
“From a viewing perspective, that’s what we would want, though the league fails to see the forest through the trees here,” wrote Orr. “By creating such stretches, there’s a higher chance Detroit punches itself out as it did during the disappointing 2024 run that finished with the Lions getting waxed by the Commanders in the playoffs.”
Orr then explained that Detroit’s backloaded schedule reminds him of what the Pittsburgh Steelers had on their schedule last year. Orr saw Pittsburgh’s 2025 slate as the league scheduling the Steelers more favorable matchups early in the season. That enabled Aaron Rodgers a greater chance at a playoff run in December.
“The joke is on me because that schedule created one of the great win-and-in moments of the past 10 years, with Pittsburgh edging Baltimore on a missed field goal to make the playoffs, irreversibly altering the course of both franchises. Still, the goal here should be to pace these games more evenly.
Dave Holcomb is a sports reporter covering the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers and a variety of other NFL teams. Originally from Pittsburgh, Holcomb has covered college and professional sports for outlets including FanSided, Rotowire and Yardbarker. More about Dave Holcomb
