A complete timeline of events that fueled Detroit Lions' downturn in 2025
Allen Park — As far as Detroit Lions fans are concerned, 2025 can kick rocks.
If you want to be technical, the team had its Super Bowl dreams dashed twice, starting with a premature exit in the previous year’s postseason.
Regardless of that humbling defeat at the hands of the Washington Commanders, optimism lingered that the Lions could adjust and improve, particularly if they were blessed with better health on defense the following season.
“We could be a better team than we were last year and have more losses,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said in April, at the league’s annual meeting. “There is a chance that could happen. That’s OK. As long as we learn from what those are and we get better coming out of them, we’ll be good.”
Well, half of that was true. The Lions had more losses this season — a lot more. But you’d have to squint and consume an excessive amount of alcohol to convince yourself they were better.
When death is unexpected — and it’s fair to classify this as that — we demand an autopsy to determine the cause and provide closure. Luckily for you, I’m certified to serve as your guest coroner today. So, strap in as we revisit the string of unfortunate events that led to this season’s unraveling.
January 18
● Lions fall flat as No. 1 seed
The previous season really has little bearing on the current one, but the sting of wasted opportunity hurts more when you consider what was to come.
Despite all the attrition on defense a year ago, the Lions still managed to win 15 games and earn home-field advantage through the Super Bowl. With it, they turned the ball over five times and got run over by an upstart Commanders squad that was among the few franchises that took a larger step back than the Lions this season.
January 21
● The Chicago Bears hire Ben Johnson
The Lions squeezed an extra season out of Johnson after he surprisingly pulled his name out of contention for the Washington job a year earlier.