Detroit, MI
How many division wins will the Detroit Lions tally in 2026?
Every year, the NFL schedule bring upon something new for the Detroit Lions. This year, it’s a trip to Germany, a rare “Sunday Night Football” game at Carolina, and an early bye week. Oh wait, scratch that last one. It happens all that time.
Another constant on the Lions’ schedule is their divisional opponents. Like every other team, Detroit’s six divisional games make up over a third of their entire schedule. That means Detroit’s record within the NFC North will likely be crucial toward their regular season success. And with all three of their road divisional games crammed into the final four weeks of the season, how Detroit fares in those contests will almost certainly decide where they land in the postseason picture.
Last year, Detroit was swept by both the Vikings and Packers, and even though they ended up sweeping the division-winning Chicago Bears, it wasn’t enough to punch their ticket to the playoffs. So today’s Question of the Day is:
How many division wins will the Lions pick up on their 2026 schedule?
My answer: I’m going with three.
First off, let’s get this straight. There is no universe where getting swept by the Vikings again in 2026 is acceptable. I understand their defense is a very tough matchup for an offense-heavy team like the Lions, but Minnesota’s roster just doesn’t compare to the rest of the division right now—especially with the questions at quarterback. Because the Vikings still always play the Lions tough, I’ll give them a split of the series.
And I’m going to be boring with the other two teams, too. I expect a split with each series. I think Ben Johnson will have a chip on his shoulder after getting swept by Dan Campbell last year and find a way to win one of those games. And while I’m really tempted to predict a sweep of the Packers, I’m just having a hard time seeing it given how well they tend to play against Detroit. The Lions will have the benefit of the bye week going into their first matchup, but a Week 18 game in Lambeau will be tough, even if the Lions managed to beat them in that exact scenario during the 2022 season.
How many division wins do you think the Lions pick up this year? Vote in the poll below and share your reasoning in the comment section.
Detroit — The Tigers will get pitcher Jack Flaherty back in the starting rotation for a start in the series finale against the Houston Astros on Sunday, manager AJ Hinch confirmed on Saturday.
Flaherty, who has been on the 15-day injured list since June 13 with a strain of the peroneal tendons in his left foot/ankle, will get back on the active roster with a yet-to-be-announced move on Sunday morning, as it’s the first day he’s eligible to come back from the IL.
“He’s good to go for tomorrow,” Hinch said. “We can’t make it official until the morning. But yeah, we’re fully expecting him to be good to go.”
Flaherty completed a rehab assignment with Double-A Erie on Tuesday, throwing 5⅔ innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts.
That outing and the lack of any hang-ups in the days since have Flaherty on the precipice of his return. Hinch was hopeful that Flaherty could make his return on Sunday, and a few days earlier he recalled some words of motivation he gave the pitcher in a postgame handshake line.
“I told him, I was standing in the high-five line yesterday, that we’re getting closer, closer to him being back,” Hinch said. “So, he’s definitely the right amount of being agitated and wanting to pitch.”
With Flaherty back in the mix, Hinch is unsure if Detroit will stick with a six-man pitching rotation of Tarik Skubal, Framber Valdez, Casey Mize, Troy Melton, Keider Montero and Flaherty or take it back down to five. The latter option likely requires Montero to move into a bullpen role.
As of Saturday, the inflection point on any decision will be the series opener against the Texas Rangers on Thursday.
The plan is for Flaherty to pitch the finale against Houston. Detroit then travels to New York for a three-game series against the Yankees where it’s set up for Mize, Skubal and Melton to pitch Monday through Wednesday.
That Thursday opener against the Rangers, where Hinch will make a call between Valdez and Montero, sits in an odd pocket of the schedule, too, as the two teams are off on Friday before completing a three-game series over the weekend. That’s because there’s a Round of 32 game in the FIFA World Cup taking place in Arlington, Texas, that afternoon.
And with a day off the following Monday, Detroit has two days of rest in a four-day span after coming off a 14-game stretch without an off day.
“We’ll have a decision to make on Thursday, going to Texas,” Hinch said. “We can bring Framber back on regular rest. We could put Keider in there, do the six man. We’re kind of considering all of our options. Going with Jack coming in tomorrow kind of creates that decision for the back end of that. Then we have two off days surrounding the weekend. It’s really weird with the World Cup. We have that weird mid-series off day. So we’ll see.”
Hinch shares updates on Perez, Báez
The timeline for Wenceel Perez and Javier Báez to rejoin the active roster remains murky, though both are progressing in recovering from their respective injuries, Hinch said.
Perez, who suffered a fractured orbital bone on his left side after a resistance band under tension released and hit him the face last week, is on the 60-day injured list. Hinch shared that things are going slow in Perez’s recovery as all parties are basically waiting for the fracture to heal and Perez’s vision to be fully restored.
Perez is back in Detroit, but is otherwise laying low on any sort of rehab until the injury itself subsides enough.
“There’s a little bit of unknown on how long this can take but given — I mean, it’s like two-sided,” Hinch said. “You want everybody to know he’s safe and out of harm’s way. He’s just mending slowly in that. And the swelling, the vision, not disrupting the healing of the orbital bone, it’s a lot more sensitive than just getting hit in the face.”
Báez is getting back to some physical activity after taking some prolonged rest, which came as a result of his sprained right ankle not responding well to earlier rehab.
Báez has been on the IL since late April and got moved to the 60-day IL on June 11.
And despite the need for serious ramping up, Báez’s return to some light physical activity is a welcome sign for Hinch and Co. for an injury they worried could be much more serious.
“He’s doing well and going to continue on with his rehab and getting back into baseball stuff. There’s jump tests, there’s running, there’s the hitting, again,” Hinch said. “So the good news is he’s not shut down. That’s what our fear was. The continual delay is it has just been a complicated injury.”
Andrew Graham is a freelance writer.
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