There was a time, not a long ago, when the Detroit Lions seemed like they were allergic to playing in primetime or in a nationally televised game. Sure they’ve always had Thanksgiving, but Monday night’s, Thursday nights, Sunday night’s and 4:05 slots were pretty hard to come by. Then that Week 18 game against the Packers happened in 2022.
The Lions got flexed into the night game and they did not disappoint. The NFL rewarded them with four primetime games for the 2023 season. The Lions won almost all of them. The only loss being the game against the Cowboys. Which they had won until officiating fiasco happened.
Now after two playoff games, the Lions are going to more than likely be heavily featured in primetime a lot next year. Not just because they’re good, but because they are a smash hit in the ratings.
The Lions vs Rams game drew 35.8 million viewers on all platforms. That it made it the most watched primetime show since Super Bowl LVII last February. That’s not just primetime football. We’re talking anything that has been in a primetime slot in the last year. TV shows, political stuff, you name it.
Then the Lions played the Bucs in the divisional round and smashed that record. This time 40.4 million people tuned in across all platforms to watch the Lions play this game. So the Lions have the two highest ratings of the year behind the Super Bowl. That’s just the playoffs though.
In terms of regular season games, the Lions Thursday night opener against the Chiefs was the most watched Sunday Night Football game of the year with 27.5 million people tuning in. The Lions matchup with the Packers on Thanksgiving was Fox’s most watched game of the year with 33.7 million people tuning in.
The NFL had it’s second most watched football season in it’s existence and the Lions mostly ruled that. Add that to the fact that they’re a great team and you should definitely be seeing them in primetime a lot in 2024.