Late last week, Erik Schlitt and I made our best predictions for the Detroit Lions’ 2026 season based on the recently released NFL schedule. We did our best to try and stay as objective as possible, but couldn’t help but pick pretty great final records based on our game-by-game predictions.
But it turns out our predictions aren’t just blind homerism. Yahoo Sports writer Ben Fawkes has the Vegas odds for every single game of the 2026 NFL season, and the Lions are favorites in nearly every single game.
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Of the 17 games on the Lions’ schedule, Detroit is favored 14 times. Here’s the breakdown by game:
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Week 1 vs. Saints: Lions by 7.5
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Week 2 at Bills: Bills by 3
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Week 3 vs. Jets: Lions by 9.5
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Week 5 at Cardinals: Lions by 8.5
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Week 8 vs. Vikings: Lions by 4.5
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Week 9 at Dolphins: Lions by 6.5
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Week 10 vs. Patriots (Munich): Lions by 1.5
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Week 12 vs. Bears (Thanksgiving): Lions by 2.5
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Week 14 vs. Titans: Lions by 7.5
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Week 15 at Vikings: Lions by 1.5
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Week 16 vs. Giants: Lions by 5.5
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Week 17 at Bears: Bears by 1.5
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Week 18 at Packers: Packers by 2.5
As you can see, Detroit isn’t just favorites in 14 of 17, but they’ve got a handful of games where they’re heavy favorites. In five different games (Saints, Jets, Cardinals, Dolphins, Titans) they’re favorites by at least six points. Meanwhile, in the three games they’re considered underdogs (Bills, Bears, Packers), the line is no more than three points in each game.
This all, of course, is relatively meaningless right now. Vegas lines will change as we learn more about each team and injuries change expectations. And just because a team is favored in a lot of games doesn’t mean they’ll actually win them. Last year, Detroit was the favorite in 12 of 17 games, but only ended up winning nine games total.
Read the full article here