Who owns Thanksgiving, the Lions or Cowboys? History, records, ratings, and predictions
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Thanksgiving Day is all about football. What? You thought it was about family, sharing, and being thankful for the life you have? Incorrect. The truth of the matter is that football was the only reason those pilgrims and Native Americans shared that feast. They knew that nothing was more important than letting their ancestors watch Derrick Henry stiff arm Earl Thomas into oblivion.
The Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions have kept that tradition alive by offering to play on Thanksgiving every year until the end of time. The tradition started in 1934 when the Lions played the world champion Chicago Bears in an instant classic that ended with the Bears winning 19-16. Since 1945, the Lions have not missed a single holiday (no Thanksgiving games were played from 1941-1944).
The Cowboys joined the Lions later, in 1966. They have since missed two Thanksgivings, in 1975 and 1977. While the Lions may have started this tradition, their consistently disappointing performances and failure to win a Super Bowl has forced many fans to lean in favor of the Cowboys every Turkey Day. So, who actually owns Thanksgiving? The Detroit Lions or the Dallas Cowboys?
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While the Lions have played the most Thanksgiving Day games of any NFL team (89), they haven’t been immune to controversy in that time. Most notably, many NFL fans wanted the Lions removed from Thanksgiving primetime in 2008. The Lions were 0-11 at the time, and were trounced by the Tennessee Titans that year 47-10. Obviously, the NFL decided to let Detroit keep their Turkey Day tradition.
The Lions have a record of 37-44-2 on Thanksgiving. Since 2000 though, the Lions are an abysmal 6-17 on Thanksgiving. Currently, the Lions have lost six straight, most recently a 28-25 loss to the Buffalo Bills in 2022.
The Cowboys on the other hand, have a record of 32-22-1 on Thanksgiving. While they have lost three of their last four Thanksgiving Day contests, they’ve proven much more capable of living up to the Turkey Day privilege than Detroit in recent years.
That could change this season though. The Lions currently hold the second-best record in the NFL and their matchup is against the Green Bay Packers, a team they’ve already beaten this year. The Cowboys get a matchup against divisional adversary, the Washington Commanders. The Commanders dominated the Cowboys on Thanksgiving in 2020 to the tune of a 41-16 beatdown led by halfback Antonio Gibson. That said, things have changed since then. The Cowboys are much improved, while the Commanders just lost to the woeful New York Giants.
Thanksgiving Day games are often some of the most-watched NFL games every season. Last year was no different. In fact, the 2022 game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants set an NFL regular season viewership record with 42.1 million viewers tuning in, beating out the previous NFL record-holder, a 1990 matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants. It goes without saying that it was also the most viewed Thanksgiving Day game of all-time, beating out the Cowboys 2021 game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
For comparison, the 2022 Lions-Bills Thanksgiving Day game earned 31.78 million viewers. That’s still a lot. In fact, it was the most-watched early Thanksgiving Day game of all-time.
With that in mind, there’s an argument to be made that the Lions would have earned more viewers if they were given the afternoon or evening time slot. At the same time though, the NFL knows which games will garner the most viewers and tend to flex the best in the best time slots. If the Lions would draw more viewers, they likely would have been given the afternoon slot.
With all that said, it’s pretty easy to tell which team gets more viewers. The Cowboys are “America’s Team” after all, while the Lions had many fans begging the NFL to remove them from the Thanksgiving slot because of how bad they had been for most of the 2000’s.
The Lions and Cowboys are favorites to defeat the Packers and Commanders, according to the BetMGM NFL odds. Looking to wager? Check out the best mobile sports betting apps offering NFL betting promos in 2023.
While the Lions have lost each of their last six Turkey Day games, they are a much better team now than they were even a year ago. The Lions have already beaten the Packers handedly this season, 38-20. Now get to face them at home. The Packers will likely be without both star running back Aaron Jones and star cornerback Jaire Alexander as well.
As bad as the Lions have been on Thanksgiving, the Packers haven’t been much better, boasting just a 14-20-2 record all-time. Give me the Lions (-7.5) all day.
The Commanders are one of the toughest teams to predict in all of football. Their 4-7 record would have you thinking they’re a middle-of-the-road, maybe even low-tier team. However, they were also very close to defeating the Philadelphia Eagles, forcing the reigning NFC champs to overtime in Week 4. Washington always seems to play to their level of competition, and while that doesn’t mean they will beat the Cowboys, they will probably keep it close.
The Commanders are a dreadful 4-8 all-time on Thanksgiving. That’s the second-worst record of any team with at least ten Thanksgiving Day games played. Only the Arizona Cardinals (6-15-2) are worse. That said, I like the Commanders to keep this one a one-possession game. Divisional games are always tougher than the rest because each team knows the other so well.
