The Detroit Lions are set to play in back-to-back "primetime" games. On Thursday, they will battle the undefeated Green Bay Packers on national television, and in Week 13, they will play at the New Orleans Saints on NBC's Sunday Night Football after the game was flexed by the NFL this morning.
For a while now fans have been keeping an eye on the Week 13 schedule since it was a possibility that the Lions-Saints matchup could be flexed. After the NFL moved the originally scheduled Indianapolis Colts-New England Patriots game to the afternoon, the thinking was the Lions-Saints game was the favorite to take its place on Sunday night. The NFL confirmed that that was their decision today, and it means the Lions will have consecutive nationally televised games for the first time in a long time. From Tim Twentyman:
It will be the first time the Lions will play back-to-back nationally televised games since 2000 when they beat the Patriots on Thanksgiving and then lost to the Vikings a week later on ESPN Thursday Night Football.
The new start time for the Saints game on Dec. 4 is 8:20 p.m. (ET).