The Detroit Lions enter 2026 with a lot to clean up, and that’s why the idea of a Super Bowl window staying open feels a lot shakier than it did a year ago.
After back-to-back division titles, Detroit stumbled to a 9-8 finish in 2025 and missed the postseason. The schedule was rough, the injuries piled up, and the Lions never fully recovered. Now the task is to reset fast - and that’s where the problems start.
One issue is the churn around the roster. Before free agency even got going, the Lions released Taylor Decker after a contract dispute became public.
They also moved on from center Graham Glasgow and watched linebacker Alex Anzalone leave in free agency. The team believes it has enough leadership in place to handle the exits, but there’s still a real chance of early-season growing pains as players settle into new jobs.
On top of that, the legal matter involving Terrion Arnold and his subsequent release only added more turbulence.
Detroit is also dealing with uncertainty at safety, where both Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph are working through injuries with no clear return dates.
Then there’s the offense, which has plenty of talent but not nearly enough consistency last season. The Lions still finished fourth in scoring, but that wasn’t enough to keep John Morton in place. Campbell made the change, and now Drew Petzing takes over as coordinator with immediate pressure to get more out of a group that already knows how to put up points.
A big part of that will be what happens on the offensive line. Detroit has added three interior linemen who should be in the mix for starting jobs, and Penei Sewell is moving to the left side.
At right tackle, the job will go to either veteran Larry Borom or rookie Blake Miller. If the line settles down, that could help smooth out the offense.
If it doesn’t, the inconsistency that haunted Detroit last year could stick around.
The division is another major obstacle. Campbell has long believed the best path in the postseason starts with winning the NFC North and earning a home playoff game, but that’s a tougher climb now than it has been in years.
All four NFC North teams finished above .500 last season. The Bears surged under former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, the Packers grabbed the seventh seed, and the Vikings swept Detroit despite shaky quarterback play that has since been addressed this offseason.
That makes the six divisional games on the schedule the real swing point for the Lions. If they go 2-4 in the division again, as they did in 2025, their chances of contending could take a serious hit. If they can control the North the way they did in each of the previous two seasons, they’ll put themselves right back in the mix.
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