After an instant classic in Week 1 on Monday Night Football, the Week 2 matchup of Green Bay and Detroit is sure to be a letdown by comparison. Well, that is, for anyone who isn’t a Packers fan. This division game against an inferior Lions squad should be more than enough to help get Aaron Rodgers and the Packers back on track after a 38-3 drubbing against the New Orleans Saints. This game will probably be over by halftime, with the Packers already being heavily favored to beat the Lions on MNF. The Packers are favored by 10.5 points at home, to be exact.
Knowing this and Rodgers’ long history of success against the Lions makes one wonder about the scheduling of MNF games. Of all the games available to broadcast on Monday night, the Packers and Lions were chosen for Week 2. Talk about dropping the ball. I know these games are scheduled well in advance, but the Lions have never done anything that would warrant them playing in primetime. Let’s be honest about this. It’s too bad flex scheduling isn’t an option on Mondays because that’s the only game. And I don’t care that the Lions are facing the defending MVP in Aaron Rodgers. He’ll have enough great performances this year that I’m sure most would agree that we can skip this MNF outing.
The Los Angeles Rams and Indianapolis Colts are buried on the slate of early afternoon games as I write this, and that should end up being a much better game than the Packers and Lions. The Tennessee Titans don’t get a ton of primetime games, and they play the Seattle Seahawks today in the late afternoon slate. The Titans took one on the chin in Week 1, but I don’t expect them to play as poorly in Week 2 in Seattle. That’s two games in Week 2 that could have potentially been better for MNF.
The NFL likes to mix it up and get different team’s national exposure, but it seems like ESPN and MNF get more duds per season than NBC with Sunday Night Football. SNF on NBC has become what MNF used to be on ABC and now ESPN. The biggest advantage in scheduling for SNF is that NBC can flex out of one matchup in favor of another. This isn’t an option on Monday nights, unfortunately. So, when scheduled, fans are stuck with games like the Lions and Packers with no alternative available.
The solution is quite simple. DO NOT SCHEDULE THE LIONS ON MNF. Please. If the league wants them in primetime, throw them on SNF. NBC can always flex out for a better game. The Lions have not won a playoff game since 1991. Barry Sanders was still early in his career the last time this Lions franchise experienced any postseason success. It’s nothing personal against the Lions, but SNF and MNF should have the best potential matchups possible scheduled each week. There’s no way anyone looked at the schedule of games for Week 2 and said, Packers v Lions is the best matchup this week. No way in hell.
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