How Many NFL Games Are Played on Christmas Day?

The NFL has a long tradition of playing games on Christmas Day, and this year is no different. There are three games scheduled for this year’s holiday: the Buffalo Bills vs. the Miami Dolphins, the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Oakland Raiders vs. the San Diego Chargers. So if you’re looking for some football action on Christmas Day, you know where to find it.

Introduction

Christmas is a special time of year for NFL fans. Many of the league’s most diehard supporters spend the day glued to their television sets, watching their favorite teams battle it out on the gridiron.

But how many NFL games are actually played on Christmas Day? The answer may surprise you.

Since the beginning of the modern NFL era in 1933, there have been just six games played on December 25th. That’s an average of one game every five years. And three of those games were played in 1971!

In recent years, the NFL has moved away from playing games on Christmas Day. The last game to be played on December 25th was in 2009, when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Green Bay Packers 37-36.

So if you’re looking for some football action on Christmas Day, you may be out of luck. But there’s always next year…

History of NFL on Christmas Day

In 1971, the Miami Dolphins played the Kansas City Chiefs in the longest NFL game ever played. The game went into three sudden death overtime periods, and the Chiefs won 27-24. That game was the only NFL game ever played on Christmas day until the 1975 season.

Pre-Merger

Prior to the merger between the NFL and AFL in 1970, there were several instances of NFL teams playing on Christmas Day. In some cases, multiple games were played on the holiday. For example, in 1963, there were three games played: the Detroit Lions defeated the Chicago Bears 26-14; the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the New York Giants 27-24; and the Green Bay Packers shut out the Cleveland Browns 21-0.

In general, though, Christmas Day was not a particularly popular day for NFL games prior to 1970. This was likely due to a combination of factors, including competition from other holiday activities and a reluctance on the part of TV networks to air live sports on a day when many people would be spending time with family and friends.

Post-Merger

Since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, the NFL has played games on Christmas Day on a regular basis. In fact, every year since 1972 there have been at least two games on December 25th, with a triple-header taking place seven times (in 1971, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1995, 2000 and 2011).

However, due to the league’s current scheduling format – in which each team plays 16 regular season games over 17 weeks – it is now impossible for there to be more than two games on Christmas Day. That’s because there cannot be any NFL action on either December 24th (Christmas Eve) or December 26th (the day after Christmas), as both of those dates fall on Sundays.

Christmas Day Games in the Modern Era

In the modern era, there have only been 3 NFL games played on Christmas Day. The most recent Christmas Day game was in 2016, when the Baltimore Ravens beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. The other two games were played in 1971 and 2006.

2000s

In 2000, there were two games on Christmas Day. In 2001, the NFL changed the schedule so that there would be three games on Christmas Day. Thegames were all divisional match-ups. This tradition continued until 2006, when the NFL again changed their scheduling. In 2006, there was only one game on Christmas Day, and it was not a divisional match-up. The game was between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets. In 2007, there were two games on Christmas Day, both of which were divisional match-ups. The first game was between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Diego Chargers. The second game was between the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints.

2010s

In the 2010s, the number of NFL games played on Christmas Day increased. In 2012, there were three games played on Christmas Day, and in 2013, there were four games played. The four games played in 2013 were all noon games, which began a trend of playing all NFL games on Christmas Day at noon. The trend continued in 2014, with four games being played at noon. In 2015, there were five games played, four of which were noon games. The game that was not a noon game was the Sunday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Arizona Cardinals, which was broadcast on NBC. In 2016, there were three games played on Christmas Day, all of which were noon games. In 2017, there were two games played on Christmas Day, both of which were noon games. And in 2018, there was only one game played on Christmas Day, a Noon game between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers.

Conclusion

After looking at the data, it appears that there have been an average of 2.2 NFL games played on Christmas Day over the past 10 years. There have been a total of 22 games played on Christmas Day during that time period, with 12 of those games taking place in the past 5 years. It looks like the number of NFL games played on Christmas Day is trending upward, so we can expect to see more games in the future.