Detroit Lions fans, we made it. Week 1 is here. The Lions will play the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The draft, free agency, training camp, OTAs, mandatory minicamp, preseason: all of it is done. Now it’s time to talk about the biggest questions still hanging over this team heading into the 2026 NFL season. There are plenty of them on both sides of the ball, and the answers will shape whether Detroit can get back to where it wants to be.

Is this offense going to work under Drew Petzing?

This might be the single biggest question I have. When the Lions hired Petzing, the move made a lot of sense to me. I know a lot of fans were upset about it. They wanted Mike McDaniel. They wanted something other than the guy who was the offensive coordinator for the Cardinals, where it didn’t really work out all that well in Arizona. But he makes a lot of sense for what the Lions want to do. They want to be a run-first team. They want to run to set up the pass. They want to be creative. And I thought Petzing got blood from a stone in Arizona. He was able to do a lot more with what he had than I think some other OCs might have been able to do.

From what I’ve seen so far, I’m confident the Lions are going to have an explosive offense. The only concern I have is in the run game department, mostly because Detroit’s defensive front did a pretty good job of stopping its own run game this summer. That doesn’t mean Jahmyr Gibbs didn’t pop off and have a 60-yard touchdown. Gibbs got his this summer, no doubt about it. But when he wasn’t being explosive, he was getting stopped a lot, at least from what I saw in 11-on-11 drills and scrimmages. I need to see everything play out against a real defense in a real game, and we’re going to get that starting Sunday.

What does Jahmyr Gibbs as a bell cow look like?

When I think of bell cow, I think of Derrick Henry with the Titans or the Ravens. The ball is going to him on every carry. The Lions aren’t even going to think about the fact that they have another running back. It’s all Gibbs, all the time. And I just don’t know if Gibbs is that type of running back.

Don’t get me wrong, he should get a lot of carries and he’s earned them. Last year we got a bit of a preview of that. But in short-yardage situations, goal-line situations, you would see David Montgomery. I don’t know how Gibbs operates in those spots. Is that where we’re going to see Jacob Saylors or Sione Vaki? We thought we would see Isiah Pacheco, but at this point it’s pretty clear we’re not going to see him for a while, at least not for the first four games. Frankly, I’m starting to wonder if we’re going to see him at all this season.

Is this offensive line better than last year?

My first instinct is, well, yeah, definitely. There is a huge difference between what the Lions have now and what they had last year with Taylor Decker and Graham Glasgow. Those guys did a lot of great things for Detroit over the years, but last year it was apparent that it was done for them. Decker played most of the year hurt. Glasgow dealt with some injuries.

Blake Miller is an upgrade in the sense that he can move, he can go out there and play, and he’s healthy. He’s going to have some rookie bumps in the road, and I’m interested to see what he looks like against Chase Young, Cam Jordan, and some of these veteran edge rushers on Sunday. You would love to have Cade Mays out there, but Juice Scruggs has looked pretty good at center. Good enough to the point where you start wondering: when Mays is ready to come back, what if Scruggs is just balling out? Are the Lions going to have a center controversy? I don’t know, man.

Penei Sewell looked really good this summer. Tate Ratledge looks like a Pro Bowler. That guy is going to be one of the best right guards in the NFL. I have no doubt about this. Left guard is Christian Mahogany right now, but I think Ben Bartch has an opportunity to steal that job. We’ll see what happens. There are a lot of questions left to be answered on that offensive line, but right now I think it’s better. Let’s see what it looks like in a live game.

Are we going to see nickel at all?

Coming into training camp, the Lions wanted to play more nickel. That was the priority. Now we get to the end of camp, Week 1 is Sunday, and Detroit has never at any point had a definitive starting nickel cornerback. Roger McCreary had a rough summer. Christian Izien could play that role, but he’s hurt. Keith Abney is a rookie expected to be in that slot role, and I think we’ll see him share some reps with McCreary. But I’m starting to look at it and think we’re going to see basically what we saw last year: around 35% nickel with base defense the rest of the way.

Is this defensive line as good as it has looked?

I cannot say it enough. This Lions defensive line has looked tremendous this summer, whether in training camp or preseason. They’re getting sacks. They’re stopping the run. They’re doing everything you want your defensive line to do. When you look at how they carried 11 defensive linemen, it makes sense, because all of them showed up. All of them popped up on film and in my notebook over and over again.

I think Ahmed Hassanein is going to be a much bigger factor than we think. I think by the end of this season, Skyler Gill-Howard is going to be one of those guys Lions fans are buying his jersey. DJ Wonnum looks good. Derrick Moore looks good. Tyler Lacy looks good. Alim McNeill is looking like his old self again. This is going to be fun. But is it real? That’s the question, and we’re going to get it answered against the Saints.

The Lions were 4th in sacks last year, 5th in pressures. But as any Lions fan will tell you, their time to pressure and time to throw were near the bottom of the league. This year, and this is Brad Holmes saying it, they wanted to put more emphasis on getting to the quarterback faster. It looks like they’ve done that. We’re going to see.

Is Devin White going to be the Devin White of old?

This may not seem like a massive question, but I think it’s the difference between a really good defense and an OK defense. This guy was second in the league in tackles last year. Tackles don’t pop you on the stat sheet and they’re not the most exciting thing, but if White can go out there and tackle a bunch of dudes and hit as hard as he’s been hitting all summer, the sky’s the limit. Him, Jack Campbell, and Derrick Barnes make up a fun linebacker group. I’m mesmerized by what I saw from the Lions front seven this summer. I have to know if it’s real, and we’re going to find out soon.

Can the Lions stay healthy?

This is the No. 1 question, without a doubt. I know Lions fans are going to point out that they’ve already had injuries. Look, injuries are going to happen. There’s no way of getting around them. Players are going to get hurt in training camp. That comes with the territory.

I think there’s a frequency illusion going on with Lions fans right now where anytime somebody gets minimally hurt, they freak out like it’s over before it started. Then that guy is usually back two days later. Calm down on some of that. If you miss a guy for a week, it is what it is.

What I want to know is whether the Lions can avoid losing guys for the entirety of the season or for weeks on end. You have Cade Mays, a couple of guys on PUP, Isiah Pacheco on IR. But I don’t think those injuries derail the entire start of the season. You’d like to have Brian Branch back. You’d like to have Kerby Joseph back. When those guys return, can everyone stay healthy? That’s the biggest question. That’s the thing that has killed the Lions the last two seasons in a row. If they can’t stay healthy, you’re probably looking at another repeat of what happened last season.

We’re going to see. Those are the biggest questions I need answered, and we’re going to get those answers relatively soon.

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