The Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams close out a wild opening Sunday of the American football season with one of the most anticipated games of the week.

Rams vs. Lions has carried the Jared Goff vs. Matthew Stafford storyline for the last few matchups and will do so again Sunday night, but the matchup means so much more now. For the Rams, it’s a chance for revenge. The last meaningful game they played was at that same Ford Field, when the Lions defeated them 24-23 in an instant classic.

For the Lions, Sunday night marks the start of the franchise’s most anticipated season in at least three decades, if not ever. Last season, they tied a team record with 12 regular-season wins and advanced as far into the postseason as they’ve ever gone in the Super Bowl era. With an active offseason, it’s easy to suggest they’ll have a significantly improved roster this year, meaning the sky’s the limit for the 2024 NFL season.

As every year, we have a couple of live threads for each Lions game. This one is for live chat during the first half of the game. The open thread for the second half will appear on the front page during half time.

How does a live thread work? Just go here, scroll to the bottom of the page, and watch the comments automatically appear. Throw in your own comments as the game progresses, then jump to the second half of the thread when the time comes.

Now let’s have a season and go, LIONS!