Cowboys, Lions' Tradition of Playing NFL Games on Thanksgiving Day Explained

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without turkey, pumpkin pie and football.

And that football always includes the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys.

This year is no different, as the Lions defeated the Chicago Bears on Thursday before the Cowboys hosted the New York Giants. Jim Reineking of USA Today provided an explanation for why those two NFC teams host a game every Thanksgiving before Thursday's contests kicked off.

For the Lions, it all started with George A. Richards' decision to purchase the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans for $8,000 and then move them to Detroit to become the Lions. Richards then negotiated a deal with NBC to broadcast a Thanksgiving game against the Bears across its 94-station network.

When the game drew a then record crowd in Detroit and was listened to across the country, the Lions became a Thanksgiving staple.

As for the Cowboys, team president Tex Schramm volunteered to play in a second Thanksgiving game for the 1966 season when the NFL and television networks were negotiating for another one. The one stipulation from Schramm was the Cowboys would get to host the contest.

The Cowboys have hosted a Thanksgiving game every year except 1975 and 1977 since, while the Lions have hosted a Thanksgiving game ever since 1934 with the exception of 1939-44 during World War II.

Detroit playing in front of a national audience hasn't always been the best thing for the NFL given the franchise's less-than-stellar history, but this year is different.

It improved to 11-1 with the 23-20 victory over the Bears, which ended in a peculiar fashion for Chicago. Caleb Williams led his team back into the game after falling behind 23-7 going into the fourth quarter but took a sack with 32 seconds remaining on the final drive.

The Bears still had a timeout but didn't call it and instead let the clock tick all the way down to just seconds remaining, which left them with just one more play. That last play was an incomplete desperation heave, which led to even more questions surrounding head coach Matt Eberflus' status.

But it also led to turkey celebrations in Detroit.