Coming out of their bye week, the Detroit Lions have one of the league’s toughest remaining schedules.
The 2022 schedule was naturally going to be easier for the Detroit Lions than last year’s, in terms of opponent strength and travel distance. A 1-4 start before the bye week was not a way to get to optimistic predictions of eight or even nine wins heading into the season, but that’s where they are.
Even back in May, it was easy to point to the post-bye week three-game stretch against the Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers as the toughest of the season for the Lions. Even with Week 6 losses by all three, they are a combined 10-8 this season.
As it was time to predict the rest of the Lions schedule coming out of their bye week, it’s also appropriate to re-calibrate how tough said remaining schedule is.
Detroit Lions have one of the league’s toughest remaining schedules
Via Tankathon, the Lions have the eighth-toughest remaining schedule in the NFL with a .542 combined opponent’s current win percentage.
The Lions face three 5-1 teams from here on out (New York Giants–Week 11, Buffalo Bills–Week 12, Minnesota Vikings–Week 14) and two 4-2 teams (Dallas Cowboys–Week 7, New York Jets–Week 15). They also get the 3-3 Green Bay Packers twice (Week 9 and Week 18), and the 3-3 Miami Dolphins (Week 8).
In total, that’s eight of 12 remaining games against teams who are at least .500 right now. The softer matchups are the Chicago Bears (Week 10, Week 17), the Jacksonville Jaguars (Week 13) and Carolina Panthers (Week 16).
Based on the current win percentage of all 17 of their 2022 opponents (.569), the Lions have the league’s fourth-toughest schedule (via Tankathon). That’s a far cry from what’s always done to determine strength of schedule traditionally before a season, as the Lions’ opponents this season had a collective .467 winning percentage last year (fifth-easiest in the league).
The Packers look ripe to be upset at least once, while the Giants and Jets have to prove they are as good as they’ve looked thus far. But the Lions’ remaining schedule is broadly not very friendly, and overall we’ve again seen how foolish it is to accurately pin strength of schedule on the previous year’s results in any way, shape or form.