{"id":661907,"date":"2026-05-24T07:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T07:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661907\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T07:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T07:21:11","slug":"detroit-lions-2026-schedule-game-most-likely-to-be-a-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661907\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Lions\u2019 2026 schedule: Game most likely to be a loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another day, another opportunity to include an entry in our superlative series on the Detroit Lions\u2019 2026 schedule<\/a>. For the rest of this week, we\u2019re breaking down a different angle of Detroit\u2019s schedule every day, with each of us on staff offering our unique perspective on what the schedule makers have put together for the Lions.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at our previous entries so far:<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s superlative has us each picking the game on the schedule we\u2019re most convinced is a loss for the Lions in 2026.<\/p>\n

Game we\u2019re most convinced is a loss<\/p>\n

Brandon Knapp: Week 2 @ Buffalo Bills<\/p>\n

The Bills are a tough team to play and being the first opponent in their new stadium is going to make it even tougher. The crowd will bring its \u2018A\u2019 game, and the Bills should be as healthy as the Lions. Josh Allen is a great QB and on a short week, it might not be enough time to prepare. The only thing that favors the Lions is no snow, so weather can\u2019t be an excuse.<\/p>\n

Erik Schlitt: Week 2 @ Buffalo Bills<\/p>\n

There are some difficult games on the Lions\u2019 schedule this season, but I think they\u2019re built to have a chance to win all of them. That being said, in the spirit of the question, traveling to Buffalo in Week 2, on a Thursday night, on a day that the Bills will be debuting their brand new stadium\u2014seems like their toughest task right now.<\/p>\n

Morgan Cannon: Week 2 @ Buffalo Bills<\/p>\n

I hate to admit it, but going into Buffalo and winning against a very motivated Bills team in front of what should be a really raucous crowd is going to be tough. And while the Lions\u2019 linebacking corps is miles ahead of where it was a few years ago when they lost a shootout to the Bills in Detroit, Josh Allen still is a problem.<\/p>\n

John Whiticar: Week 2 @ Buffalo Bills<\/p>\n

Detroit could certainly win this game, but it feels like a lot is stacked against them. It is a short week, giving them little time to prepare for their road trip to Buffalo. Meanwhile, the Bills will debut their new stadium in front of a wild and ravenous crowd of table smashers. This game is shaping up to be an offensive shootout, and I\u2019m just not sure if the Lions offense will have found their groove this early in the season.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Reisman: Week 17 @ Chicago Bears<\/p>\n

There is not a single game on the schedule I\u2019m truly convinced the Lions will lose, but if I had to pick one, it\u2019s this one. Games at Soldier Field are always ugly and annoying. And I think Ben Johnson will have Chicago hyped for this one. Plus, I predict them to be the hungrier team, as I expect Detroit to have a significantly better record than the Bears at this point in the season.<\/p>\n

Al Karsten: Week 12 vs. Chicago Bears<\/p>\n

This has nothing to do with Ben Johnson versus Dan Campbell, and I still believe the Bears could be in for a reality check this season, but it\u2019s difficult to trust the Lions on Thanksgiving at this point.<\/p>\n

Detroit is just 1-4 on Thanksgiving under Campbell and has delivered several underwhelming performances during that stretch. Making matters worse, this game will be the team\u2019s third in less than two weeks following matchups in Germany against the Patriots and back home against the Buccaneers.<\/p>\n

I expect the Lions to be fully prepared and highly competitive in those first two games, but facing a third competitive opponent in such a condensed window could simply be too much to overcome. The extra rest following Thanksgiving may end up being exactly what the team needs entering Week 13.<\/p>\n

Ryan Mathews: Week 11 vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/p>\n

The Buccaneers are a good football team that have consistently given the Lions a run for their money over the past few seasons. Detroit will be traveling over 4,000 miles back home from Germany to meet a rested Buccaneers team coming off their bye. Even though this game is at Ford Field, that\u2019s one of the toughest spots a team could face on an NFL schedule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another day, another opportunity to include an entry in our superlative series on the Detroit Lions\u2019 2026 schedule.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[270448,2131,349,99],"class_list":["post-661907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-detroit-lions-schedule","tag-detroit-lions-analysis","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}