The complete 2026 slate with rest edges and schedule context, the 2025 ledger, and the franchise record since 1999 — every number computed from the bundled nflverse game log.
The Detroit Lions enter 2026 off a 9–8 season. Their 2026 opponents went a combined 134–153–2 in 2025 (a .467 strength of schedule, 27 of 32 — the naive prior-year method, whose real forecast error is measured here). The calendar hands them a net rest differential of +1 days (15 of 32), with week 3 (+3), week 7 (+7), week 11 (-7), week 13 (+3), week 15 (-3), week 17 (-3); the bye falls in week 6, they play 2 Thursday games, and 3 of their final four games are divisional. The slate has 4 kickoffs at 7 PM ET or later and a longest road stretch of 2 straight games. Rest-edge context lives in the schedule-quirks explainer; the division picture is in the NFC North preview.
Results fill in automatically as the bundled nflverse game log updates; until a game is played its result column shows a dash.
| Wk | Date | Opponent | Rest edge | Notes | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 13 | vs New Orleans Saints | — | — | W 31–30 |
| 2 | Sep 17 | at Buffalo Bills | — | Thu | L 31–41 |
| 3 | Sep 27 | vs New York Jets | +3 | — | W 31–24 |
| 4 | Oct 4 | at Carolina Panthers | — | — | L 26–32 |
| 5 | Oct 11 | at Arizona Cardinals | — | — | W 45–21 |
| 7 | Oct 25 | vs Green Bay Packers | +7 | DIV | W 20–17 |
| 8 | Nov 1 | vs Minnesota Vikings | — | DIV | — |
| 9 | Nov 8 | at Miami Dolphins | — | — | — |
| 10 | Nov 15 | vs New England Patriots | — | Neutral (FC Bayern Munich Stadium) | — |
| 11 | Nov 22 | vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers | -7 | — | — |
| 12 | Nov 26 | vs Chicago Bears | — | DIV Thu | — |
| 13 | Dec 6 | at Atlanta Falcons | +3 | — | — |
| 14 | Dec 13 | vs Tennessee Titans | — | — | — |
| 15 | Dec 20 | at Minnesota Vikings | -3 | DIV | — |
| 16 | Dec 28 | vs New York Giants | — | Mon | — |
| 17 | Jan 3 | at Chicago Bears | -3 | DIV | — |
| 18 | Jan 10 | at Green Bay Packers | +1 | DIV | — |
Final record 9–8, 481 points scored against 413 allowed (+68). Home 5–3, road 4–5. One-score games (decided by 8 or fewer): 3–5 — the split most likely to regress either way, per the Pythagorean explainer.
Across the 27 seasons in the bundled game log the franchise is 175–260–2 (.403). Best season in the window: 2024 (15–2); leanest: 2008 (0–16). Franchise moves are joined under the current code (DET), so older seasons include predecessor cities where applicable.
Sources: nflverse public game log bundled at data/games.csv (schedule, rest, and results; retrieved August 2026 — in-season updates refresh this page's results column). No projections, no invented numbers: this page reports the schedule and the record, and links the analysis.