We’ve known for a long time that the Detroit Lions will be playing in Germany during the 2026 season. As of Monday, we now know that the game is scheduled for Week 10, on November 15th. What we still don’t know, and won’t know until Wednesday morning, is who the opponent will be. What we do know is who it won’t be.

The Lions will reportedly not be playing the Giants in Germany

There was a lot of buzz at one point this offseason that #Giants would be in Munich to face #Lions. I'm hearing that won't be the case after all.

— Ryan Dunleavy (@rydunleavy) May 12, 2026

We already knew that the Lions wouldn’t be playing the Packers there because the Lions protected that game from being chosen by the NFL. Now it would seem that the Giants, whom everyone thought the Lions would play, will not be playing them there.

So what happens now? Who are the Lions going to play? Let’s take a look at the teams in the league that have marketing rights in Germany.

Ok, let’s do a process of elimination here. The Packers game is protected; the Giants game is reportedly not the one. The Lions don’t play the Chiefs, Seahawks, Steelers, or Colts. This is going to count as a home game for the Lions, so you can check the Falcons and Panthers off the list.

That leaves the Patriots and Buccaneers. We’re going with the latter on this one since it makes too much sense that the Patriots would be the Lions’ Thanksgiving opponent.

The Lions vs Bucs is a rivalry game, so you can see why the NFL might favor that one a little bit more since it gives some more reason to tune in at 9:30 in the morning to see it.

Detroit Lions News

2026 Detroit Lions Schedule Leak Tracker: Keeping track of every game that gets leaked so you don’t have to

Mike Payton May 11, 2026