The NFL’s Thanksgiving Day games are a tradition that dates back to the league’s first season in 1920.
The NFL had six games on Thanksgiving in its first season. Over the years, the tradition as we know it took shape: The Detroit Lions hosted their first game on Thanksgiving Day in 1934 as a way for the team to increase attendance, the Dallas Cowboys happily volunteered to host the second game starting in 1966, and the league added a third rotating game on Thanksgiving Day in 2006.
NFL football has become a holiday staple. For three games this season, let’s compare the quality of each of the three games with food on the Thanksgiving table:
Turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes: Bears and lions
For years, there has been a constant drumbeat for the Lions to be kicked out of their annual Thanksgiving spot. Detroit was terrible. Why one out of three (or for many years two) Thanksgiving games were blown by a terrible team.
That has changed in a big way.
This is the main course of the day as you get the chance to see the best team in football. Yes, those are Leos. Seriously, the Lions are the best team in the NFL. Once again: The Detroit Lions they are the best team in the national football league. That’s the first time we can say that in our lifetimes, unless you were born before 1957. That’s the last time the Lions won a championship. They are capable of winning the Super Bowl this season. They have never been to the Super Bowl in their history.
Will it be a great game? Probably not, but we saw the Packers upset the Lions on Thanksgiving last season. The Bears aren’t a great team, but they are interesting to watch because they have #1 overall pick Caleb Williams. Williams has had an up-and-down rookie season, but is still convincing. Bears can at least give us a good show to start the day. Let’s hope because if we don’t get a good game to start the day…
That weird side dish your aunt brought: Giants at Cowboys
The NFL releases their schedule in April or May and sometimes they are unlucky in key games. Sometimes injuries or just bad play by a team they wanted to spotlight in primetime or another standalone game will unexpectedly ruin a game.
We all could have predicted that the Giants at Cowboys would not be great.
The NFL really believes we want to watch the Giants in marquees all the time, and we don’t. That’s how we get stuck with giants on Thanksgiving. Cowboys being bad was not part of the plan. They struggled early and their season was short. At least they got a nice win against the Washington Commanders last week.
The Giants haven’t won since Oct. 6, and if they don’t win Thursday, they may not win again until 2025. After cutting New York quarterback Daniel Jones last week, Tommy DeVito began hoping to recreate DeVito’s fun story from last week. season, but DeVito struggled badly and the Giants’ season somehow took a turn for the worse.
Simply put, it’s a match between two bad teams. And that might not matter in terms of viewership.
Last year’s Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day drew 41.4 million viewers, the third-highest viewership in NFL regular season history. And people will be watching this year even if they shouldn’t. But hey, just because that side dish on the table looks a little weird and you can’t pronounce what it is doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste good.
Pumpkin Pie: Dolphins at Packers
You’ll want to save room for dessert.
On paper, the 5-6 Miami Dolphins at the 8-3 Green Bay Packers isn’t the best matchup. But it should be a good game. The Dolphins got off to a rough start this season due to an injury to Tua Tagovailoa and bad luck in close games when he returned. Miami has won three straight with Tagovailoa playing as a top-five defender and is desperate to pile up wins and make the AFC playoffs. The Dolphins may need an upset win in Green Bay to stay in the race. They are a better team than their record suggests, they are desperate and that makes them dangerous against a good Packers team.
The Packers are one of the best teams in football. They won six out of seven games with the only loss coming against an excellent Lions team. Green Bay is improving offensively with Jordan Love overcoming several early season injuries. The Packers just happen to play in the NFL’s toughest division; they might be the best third-place team you’ve ever seen.
Should be a good way to end a day full of family, food and football. Even Giants-Cowboys is better than no football at all.