Full 2024 Lions schedule: Matthew Stafford on deck for huge prime-time opener

ALLEN PARK -- Get your popcorn ready. Or if you’re a member of the Stafford household, perhaps your earmuffs.

The Detroit Lions are opening the 2024 season with a prime-time blockbuster against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football. The game is a rematch of a wild-card thriller from January, when Matthew Stafford returned to Ford Field for the first time since he requested a trade out of Detroit, then was sent packing in front of a deafening crowd that reached 133.6 decibels. That’s equivalent to the sound of a 747 jet engine at takeoff.

Stafford was booed as he ran out of the tunnel that night, and wife Kelly later claimed her children were booed too. Jared Goff, meanwhile, was serenaded to thunderous chants of his name for the first time, giving berth to a movement that has spread everywhere from minor-league hockey games to high-school cheer competitions, Division II college basketball games, and of course the NFL draft.

“This place is special to me,” Goff said that night. “These people are special. That’s the best home atmosphere I’ve ever played in front of.”

Now they’ll open their NFC North title defense against a Rams team looking for revenge, before hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the following week for a rematch from the divisional round of that memorable playoff run. They play five prime-time games overall, and nine games are on national TV.

Get that popcorn ready. Or earmuffs.

REGULAR SEASON

Week 1: Los Angeles Rams | 8:20 p.m. Sept. 8 (NBC)

Week 2: Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1 p.m. Sept. 15 (Fox)

Week 3: at Arizona Cardinals | 4:25 p.m. Sept. 22 (Fox)

Week 4: Seattle Seahawks | 8:15 p.m. Sept. 30 (ABC)

Week 5: BYE

Week 6: at Dallas Cowboys | 4:25 p.m. Oct. 13 (Fox)

Week 7: at Minnesota Vikings | 1 p.m. Oct. 20 (Fox)

Week 8: Tennessee Titans | 1 p.m. Oct. 27 (Fox)

Week 9: at Green Bay Packers | 4:25 p.m. Nov. 3 (Fox)

Week 10: at Houston Texans | 8:20 p.m. Nov. 10 (NBC)

Week 11: Jacksonville Jaguars | 1 p.m. Nov. 17 (CBS)

Week 12: at Indianapolis Colts | 1 p.m. Nov. 24 (Fox)

Week 13: Chicago Bears | 12:30 p.m. Nov. 28 (CBS)

Week 14: Green Bay Packers | 8:15 p.m. Dec. 5 (Amazon Prime)

Week 15: Buffalo Bills | 4:25 p.m. Dec. 15 (CBS)

Week 16: at Chicago Bears | 1 p.m. Dec. 22 (Fox)

Week 17: at San Francisco 49ers | 8:15 p.m. Dec. 30 (ESPN/ABC)

Week 18: Minnesota Vikings | TBD

PRESEASON

Week 1: at New York Giants | TBD

Week 2: at Kansas City Chiefs |TBD

Week 3: Pittsburgh Steelers | TBD