Lions 2024 schedule: Early look at their home and road opponents
Matthew Stafford is coming to town for the first round of the NFL playoffs Sunday night, and he'll be back in Detroit again come fall.
The Detroit Lions will host Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams as part of the loaded 2024 schedule they drew as NFC North champs.
Including the Rams, the Lions seven playoff teams next season, for a total of eight games. They play their division rival Green Bay Packers twice, host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Buffalo Bills, and visit the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans.
The Lions host the Rams in their first home playoff game in 30 years next Sunday at Ford Field. Stafford started at quarterback for the Lions for most of the 2009-20 seasons before leading the Rams to the Super Bowl in 2021.
As part of the NFL's rotating schedule formula, the Lions play home-and-away games against their three division opponents the Packers, Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings, face every team in the NFC West and AFC South, and have crossover games against first-place teams from the NFC East (Cowboys),
NFC South (Buccaneers) and AFC East (Bills) next season.
All NFC teams have nine home and eight road games in 2024, though it's possible the NFL moves one of the Lions' games to an international location. The Lions have not played internationally since 2015, and the league has five international games scheduled for next year: Three games in London, and one each in Germany and Brazil.
While opponents for next season are set, times and dates for most games won't be released until the spring. Typically, the NFL announces its full schedule in May.
Here's a look at the Lions' schedule of opponents: *Indicates 2023 playoff team
Home opponents
Chicago, *Green Bay, Minnesota, Jacksonville, *Los Angeles Rams, Seattle, Tennessee, *Buffalo, *Tampa Bay.
Road opponents
Chicago, *Green Bay, Minnesota, Arizona, *Houston, Indianapolis, *San Francisco, *Dallas.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him @davebirkett.