The Detroit Lions are now one of the NFL's go to teams, that comes with a change for fans

It's amazing how much things have changed for the Detroit Lions in such a short period of time. It wasn't long ago when the Lions were the team that everyone laughed at and expected to be bad.  

They were banished to that 1:00 time slot and the only time anyone saw them was on Thanksgiving. That usually prompted an op-ed from someone about how the NFL should take Thanksgiving away from the Lions while completely ignoring the fact that the NFL has Thanksgiving football because of the Lions.

That's not a thing anymore. The Lions have become one of the NFL's go to teams in a way that they never have before. Sure, when things got good for the Lions, they were rewarded with a Monday night game here or there. This year is different, the Lions have nine nationally televised games as of this moment. A tenth could come if their Week 18 game against the Vikings gets flexed. 

• Vs Rams on Sunday Night Football
• Vs Seahawks on Monday Night Football
• At Cowboy's on Fox's America's Game of the Week
• At Packers on Fox's America's Game of the Week
• At Texans on Sunday Night Football
• Vs Bears on Thanksgiving 
• Vs Packers on Thursday Night Football
• Vs Bills on Fox's America's Game of the Week
• At 49ers on Monday Night Football

The 1:00 slot for the Lions is dead. They only have five games in that time slot in 2024. The Buccaneers, Vikings, Titans, Jaguars, Colts and Bears will be their opponents for those ones. 

With this schedule, Lions fans are about to have to go through a bit of lifestyle change. With five night games come five groggy early mornings. With four 4:25 games come four Sundays that essentially trap you in the house. 

I personally don't like the 4:25 games the most. You have to wait all day for them to happen and then when the game is over, it's dark out and the night is pretty much over. They sort of vampire the whole day away.

The 1:00 slots will be a welcomed friend for Lions fans that are used to the team mostly playing there. 

Things aren't likely to end here in 2024. If the Lions continue their winning ways, and especially if they win that Super Bowl, this is going to be life from now on. There will be added time slots like 9:30 in the morning for international games. There's been a lot of talk about a possible Germany game for the Lions. 

This, along with the rising of ticket prices, is the price of the team being successful. But still, we're talking about football here. I don't know about you guys, but I'd watch it at 3:00 AM if I had to because I love it. It's not so much that the schedule makes it inconvenient, it's that you have to wait for it now instead of having that early game essentially right after you wake up. The waiting is the hardest part.