DETROIT – The Detroit Lions will open the 2017 NFL season at home Sept. 10 against the Arizona Cardinals.
Then, the Lions are in the spotlight in Week 2 as they travel to the New York Giants for a Monday Night Football game on Sept. 18.
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Week 3 is a meeting back in Detroit with the NFC championship-defending Atlanta Falcons. That's followed by a road trip to Minnesota to open division play against the Vikings. Week 5 is a home game against the Carolina Panthers and Week 6 is a trip to New Orleans to face the Saints. Week 7 is a bye week.
Here are those first six weeks -- blue is home and gray is away:
- WEEK 1: Sept. 10 vs. Arizona Cardinals
- WEEK 2: Sept. 18 @ New York Giants
- WEEK 3: Sept. 24 vs. Atlanta Falcons
- WEEK 4: Oct. 1 @ Minnesota Vikings
- WEEK 5: Oct. 8 vs. Carolina Panthers
- WEEK 6: Oct. 15 @ New Orleans Saints
What do you think the Lions' record is going into that Week 7 bye? Let's start the poll now:
Weeks 8 and 9 are both primetime TV games. The Lions will play the Pittsburgh Steelers Oct. 29 in Detroit on NBC Sunday Night Football. A week later and the Lions are back on Monday Night Football for a game Nov. 6 in Green Bay. That could be a cold night in Green Bay. For the history buffs: According to the Lions, the last time the team played Monday night on the road against the Packers was Nov. 1, 1971 at Milwaukee County Stadium. It was a 14-14 tie.
Thanksgiving Day Classic is Nov. 23
After a game against the Cleveland Browns and a road trip to Chicago, the Lions are home again for the Thanksgiving Day Classic on Nov. 23 against the Minnesota Vikings.
VIEW: Detroit Lions all-time record in Thanksgiving Day game
Even more primetime?
And the fun continues: Depending on what this Lions team does they could end up back on primetime in weeks 10 through 17 as part of what the NFL calls "flexible scheduling." Basically, a Sunday afternoon game could be moved to Sunday night. The league has to announce this 12 days ahead of time.
The Lions season, again, will end with a game against the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field.
Here's the full 2017 Detroit Lions schedule -- blue is home and gray is away:
- WEEK 1: Sept. 10 vs. Arizona Cardinals
- WEEK 2: Sept. 18 @ New York Giants
- WEEK 3: Sept. 24 vs. Atlanta Falcons
- WEEK 4: Oct. 1 @ Minnesota Vikings
- WEEK 5: Oct. 8 vs. Carolina Panthers
- WEEK 6: Oct. 15 @ New Orleans Saints
- WEEK 7: Bye
- WEEK 8: Oct. 29 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
- WEEK 9: Nov. 6 @ Green Bay Packers
- WEEK 10: Nov. 12 vs. Cleveland Browns
- WEEK 11: Nov. 19 @ Chicago Bears
- WEEK 12: Nov. 23 vs. Minnesota Vikings
- WEEK 13: Dec. 3 @ Baltimore Ravens
- WEEK 14: Dec. 10 @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- WEEK 15: Dec. 16 vs. Chicago Bears
- WEEK 16: Dec. 24 @ Cincinnati Bengals
- WEEK 17: Dec. 31 vs. Green Bay Packers
This has just about everything: Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and even a New Year's Eve game.
OK, now it's time to flood the comments section below with your predictions for this year's team. Go.