When we last saw the Lions, they were in the process of ending Aaron Rodgers’ tenure with the Packers and keeping Green Bay out of the playoffs in the final game of the 2022 regular season.
We’ll see them again in five nights for the first game of 2023.
Are they ready to face the Chiefs at the start of the season? That remains to be seen.
They started 2022 very slowly, with a record of 1-6. They turned things around and almost made it to the playoffs. Even though they knew going into Sunday night’s Week 18 game that they weren’t going to get in, they played hard and well and kept the Packers from getting in.
Can they beat the Chiefs on the night they raise a banner? Can they win again exactly three weeks later at Lambeau Field, in the first of two Thursday games in 2023 against the Packers?
They have a Monday night home game against the Raiders in Week 8, the night before Halloween. They have a Week 17 game in Dallas on Saturday night.
And thanks to expanded flex options for 2023, it could be even more. And if the Lions are in the flex, that means they’re having a good year.
Currently, the Lions have become a magnet for preseason hype. Whether it’s the win in the regular season finale, or the fact that it’s been so long since they’ve been consistently good, or the fact that people love coach Dan Campbell, or some combination of the three, the Lions get the kind of Attention they rarely enjoy as the season approaches.
Whether that sentiment lasts depends on whether they win – with two prime-time tests early in the season that will either show that the Lions are for real or that they are the same old team that hasn’t had a playoff game since George HW Bush The president won more.