The Lions don't have an exemption with playing on a holiday, which is where the problem lies. The NFL could compensate the teams on Christmas by having them play a Saturday tripleheader to give them five rest days (similar to how the league scheduled the Christmas games when the holiday was on a Wednesday last year).

It's a possibility, according to a Wednesday morning report from Daniel Popper and Nate Taylor of The Athletic. Per Popper and Taylor, "when it comes to domestic standalone games, the Chiefs have requested that the NFL make them a fixture on Christmas Day, according to a league source."