Through five weeks of the 2025 NFL season, the Detroit Lions are tied with six other teams for the best record in the league at 4-1. At the beginning of the season, most Lions fans would probably be pretty happy with that record considering how daunting the first five weeks of the season looked—particularly with road trips to Green Bay, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. Of course, the outlook on that schedule is much different now, with the Ravens and Bengals currently falling way short of expectations for various reasons.
Nevertheless, the Lions look like one of the best teams in football, and the goal of a Super Bowl is still very much the expectation in Detroit.
However, the schedule ahead looks like it could be particularly challenging. This week, they have the 2-3 Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead on Sunday night, and while the Chiefs are, too, underperforming, they remain dangerous. After that, the Detroit Lions host the 4-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night. Then games against the Vikings, Commanders, and Eagles await.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves too much. The Lions have two tough opponents ahead before they reach their Week 8 bye week. So today’s Question of the Day is:
What will the Lions’ record be at the bye?
My answer: I’m going to go the safe route and say 5-2.
You can look at the next two opponents and certainly find some weaknesses. The Chiefs offense sputtered early in the year, and while it seems like they’re starting to get it together on that side of the ball, their defense is struggling to stop the run—something the Lions could certainly take advantage of. Prior to Monday night’s game, Kansas City was giving up 127.0 rushing yards a game (22nd) and 4.9 yards per carry (27th). They were better on Monday night, but the Lions are on a different level than the Jaguars’ running game.
As for the Buccaneers, they may be 4-1, but they’ve BARELY skirted by each week. Here’s each result of their five games:
- Week 1 vs. Falcons: 23-20 — Buccaneers scored game-winning touchdown with 59 seconds left
- Week 2 vs. Texans: 20-19 — Buccaneers scored game-winning touchdown with 6 seconds left
- Week 3 vs. Jets: 29-27 — Buccaneers scored game-winning field goal as time expired
- Week 4 (loss) vs. Eagles: 31-25 — Eagles won fairly comfortably after jumping to 31-13 lead
- Week 5 vs. Seahawks: 38-35 — Buccaneers scored game-winning field goal as time expired
All four of their wins involved a game-winning score in the final minute of play. It’s a skill to finish out games, but that’s something that the Detroit Lions are very good at, too.
So there’s a path to the Lions winning both games, and I would not be surprised if they did. But something tells me with the Lions’ injuries and some inconsistent play on both sides of the ball, they are going to drop one of these games and head into the bye with a respectable 5-2 record.
What do you think? Vote in the poll below and share your reasoning in the comment section at the bottom of the page.
