Detroit Lions playing an outdoor game so late is indeed a rare schedule quirk

When the 2024 NFL regular season schedule came out for the Detroit Lions, one thing was arguably the most noticeable. They played just three outdoor games all season, two were in December and the first was not until early November.

Well, here we are. The Lions will play their first outdoor game on Sunday, at Lambeau Field against the division rival Green Bay Packers. The weather forecast is calling for rain and temps in the 50's on Sunday, which really isn't so bad for early November in eastern Wisconsin. It could certainly be worse.

But it has to be pretty rare for a team to not play its first outdoor game until so far into a season, right?

Lions on very short list of teams to play first outdoor game so late in a season

John Breech of CBS Sports did the research, and found the Lions are just the third team since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger to go the first eight weeks of the season without playing an outdoor game.

The 1998 New Orleans Saints and the 2019 Atlanta Falcons are the others.

Like the Lions this season, the '98 Saints had a bye and only played seven games in the first eight weeks before playing their first outdoor game. The Falcons did not play an outdoor game until Week 11 (Nov. 17) in 2019, and with a bye in the mix (Week 9) they played nine games before that first outdoor game. That of course is the record for most indoor games to start a season.

It isn't fresh or unknown information, but Lions quarterback Jared Goff has notable indoor/outdoor splits during his time in Detroit and that made this year's schedule especially favorable for him. In three games at Lambeau Field since becoming a Lion, he has averaged 227 passing yards per game with three touchdowns and two interceptions.

As Breech noted, if Goff starts every game this season he'll become the first quarterback in NFL history to start 14 indoor games in a season (Matt Ryan currently holds the record with 13).

Truly, as was easy to see when it first came out, the schedule lined up very well for the Lions in terms of indoor/outdoor games. And waiting so long to have their first outdoor game of the season is, however expectedly, rare.