What NFL Team Has Never Played on Thanksgiving?
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Did you know that there are three NFL teams who have never played on Thanksgiving? Can you guess which ones they are?
The Detroit Lions
Over the years, the Detroit Lions have become synonymous with Thanksgiving. The team has played on the holiday every year since 1934, with the exception of 1939, due to the Thanksgiving Day Classic being played on a different day. The Lions have the most Thanksgiving appearances of any NFL team and their games are always a highlight of the holiday.
The team’s history
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the National Football League (NFL) as part of the NFC North division. The Lions first played as an independent professional team in 1930, but joined the NFL as a franchise in 1934. Despite success within the NFL, they could not survive in Portsmouth, and relocated to Detroit for the 1934 season.
The Lions have won four NFL Championships, tied for 9th overall in total championships amongst all 32 NFL franchises; although they have yet to win a Super Bowl. Their four NFL titles are tied with the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants for 4th place behind only the Chicago Bears (9), San Francisco 49ers (5), and Dallas Cowboys (5). They are also one of four current teams and the only NFC team to have never played in a conference championship game.
Why the team has never played on Thanksgiving
The Detroit Lions are the only team in the NFL to have never played on Thanksgiving. The Lions have played every Thanksgiving since 1934, with the exception of 1939-1944 due to the outbreak of World War II. In 1945, they joined the NFL and began their annual tradition.
The reason why the Lions have never played on Thanksgiving is largely due to their owner at the time, George A. Richards. Richards was strongly against having his team play on the holiday, as he felt that it would take away from the experience of attending a Lions game on Thanksgiving. He also believed that playing on Thanksgiving would be disrespectful to the holiday itself.
In recent years, there has been some speculation that the Lions may finally play on Thanksgiving, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet. It seems likely that if they do play on the holiday, it will be against one of their division rivals, such as the Green Bay Packers or Chicago Bears.
The Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys have played on Thanksgiving every year since 1966. In that time, they have become one of the most tradition-laden and popular teams in the NFL. In addition to their annual Thanksgiving game, the Cowboys also play on Thanksgiving Day in odd-numbered years.
The team’s history
The Dallas Cowboys were founded in 1960 as an expansion team. The team’s first home game was against the then-decades-old New York Giants. The Cowboys lost that game 51–7. They would go on to lose their first 11 games that season. The team didn’t win their first game until Week 13, when they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite finishing with a very poor record of 1–12–1, the Cowboys made NFL history by being the first (and to date, only) NFL expansion team to make the playoffs in their inaugural season. They did so by defeating the Eagles in a playoff for the Eastern Conference title.
Why the team has never played on Thanksgiving
The Dallas Cowboys have never played on Thanksgiving, despite being one of the most popular teams in the NFL. The reason for this is that the team was founded in 1960, after the NFL had already started scheduling teams to play on Thanksgiving.
The Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers have never played on Thanksgiving, but they have a long and storied history with the holiday. The Packers have played on Thanksgiving twice, but both times they were the away team. The first time was in 1923, when they played the Detroit Lions. The second time was in 1934, when they played the Chicago Bears.
The team’s history
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the third-oldest franchise in the NFL, dating back to 1919, and is the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team based in the United States. Home games have been played at Lambeau Field since 1957.
The Packers are the last of the “small town teams” which were common in the NFL during the league’s early days of 1920–1953. Founded in 1919 by Earl “Curly” Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun, the franchise traces its lineage to other semi-professional teams in Green Bay dating back to 1896. Between 1919 and 1920, the Packers competed against other semi-pro clubs from around Wisconsin and the Midwest, before joining the American Professional Football Association (APFA), the forerunner of today’s NFL, in 1921. Although Green Bay is by far the smallest major league professional sports market in North America, Forbes ranked the Packers as the world’s 26th most valuable sports franchise in 2016, with a value of $2.35 billion.
Why the team has never played on Thanksgiving
The Packers have a long-standing tradition of not playing on Thanksgiving Day. This is because the team was founded by Curly Lambeau, who played for the Chicago Bears in the 1920s. After he was traded to the Packers, he refused to play on Thanksgiving Day out of loyalty to the Bears.
