Lions’ 2023 schedule has five nationally televised games, Monday night matchup at home

Allen Park — Long viewed as one of the NFL’s least marketable teams, the Detroit Lions have made the transformation from undesirable to hot commodity.

At minimum, the team is scheduled to be featured on national television five times during the 2023 season, starting with one of the most prominent spots on the annual slate — the league’s Thursday night opener Sept. 7, in Kansas City, against the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs.

It’s a compelling matchup, pitting the standard-bearers against the upstart Lions, who finished out last season winning eight of their final 10 games and enter the 2023 campaign as the favorites to win a division title for the first time in 30 years.

The ingredients are also present for an entertaining shootout. The Chiefs and Lions both ranked in the top five in scoring last season, combining to average nearly 56 points per game. And both teams further invested in their respective offenses this offseason, with the Lions adding running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, while the Chiefs signed accomplished offensive tackles Jawaan Taylor and Donovan Smith and added another weapon to MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ arsenal, drafting receiver Rashee Rice out of SMU.

The Lions are actually set to play three times on Thursday this season. In addition to the opener in Kansas City, Detroit will play division rival Green Bay twice on the weekday. First, they’ll travel to Lambeau Field for a prime-time matchup in Week 4, before hosting the Packers on Thanksgiving on Nov. 23.

It will mark the 22nd Thanksgiving matchup between the sides, the most between any two teams, but also the first time the franchises have matched up on the holiday since 2013. It will also be the first meetings between the teams post-Aaron Rodgers, after the Packers traded the future Hall of Famer to the New York Jets this offseason.

The Lions will host their first prime-time game since the 2018 season opener when they welcome the Las Vegas Raiders to Ford Field for Monday Night Football on Oct. 30. Detroit’s final nationally televised game of the 2023 season is scheduled late in the year, when they travel to Dallas to battle the Cowboys on Saturday, Dec. 30.

In between the two early-season Thursday night games, the Lions will play a pair of home games against Seattle and Atlanta. The game against the Seahawks will be a rematch of last season’s shootout at Ford Field. Seattle won that one, 48-45, which proved to be the tiebreaker for the final playoff spot in the NFC, after both teams finished the year 9-8.

Detroit returns home after the Week 4 game at Lambeau to host the Carolina Panthers, before heading back on the road for back-to-back matchups against Tampa Bay and Baltimore, leading into the Monday night tilt with the Raiders.

The Lions then get a bye in Week 9 before traveling west to play the Chargers in Los Angeles. That leads into a pair of division home games against Chicago and Green Bay, on Thanksgiving, before two more on the road, including a potentially frosty, mid-December matchup with the Bears at Soldier Field.

The Lions close the season playing the defending NFC North champion Vikings twice in the final three weeks, sandwiched around the prime-time matchup with the Cowboys. The Lions play in Minneapolis on Christmas Eve and close the regular season at home against the Vikings.