Lions to Play Familiar Foe on Thanksgiving in New 2026 NFL Schedule Leak

DETROIT – One of the more underrated events during the NFL offseason is the release of the next regular season schedule. The full 2026 slate doesn’t get announced until Thursday, May 14th at 8 PM ET, but on Wednesday evening another clue as for what the Lions have in store for them this year was revealed.

According to NFL Insider, Jordan Schultz, the Lions will host the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day during Week 12 of the NFL regular season.

Although the time of the game is not yet official, it will most likely be played in the early afternoon time window of Thursday, November 26th. Last Thanksgiving the Lions faced off with the Green Bay Packers at 1 PM ET after multiple years in a row of having played the annual holiday classic at an earlier and more unusual start time of 12:30 PM ET.

Regardless, it will be one of two meetings Detroit has with their divisional rival. The Bears are led by head coach, and former Lions offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, who was unsuccessful at defeating his old team in the two games they played in 2025.

Dan Campbell has had his way with Chicago since becoming the leader of ‘One Pride,’ winning seven of ten matchups with the Bears in his five seasons at the helm, including the last four-in-a-row.

This will be the third time in the last six seasons the Lions and Bears square off on the fall holiday, and the fourth consecutive season Detroit will play a squad from the NFC North.

It was also announced on Thursday that the Lions Week 10 opponent will be the defending AFC Champion, New England Patriots. The game will be played in Munich, Germany as part of the NFL’s international series on November 15th at 9:30 AM ET. For the first time in over ten years the Lions will play outside of the United States, the last time being in 2015 when they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in London, England.