Bear Sports News

Happy Thanksgiving from me and all the bears at Bear Sports News!

The Thanksgiving games have always been around for as time as remember, even before the Super Bowl era. Thanksgiving games are as common as pumpkin pie. Essentially it’s been around forever.

Since 1920 the NFL has played some sort of Thanksgiving game, originally a partnership between college teams who would play around Thanksgiving. Then the NFL officially adopted the tradition, and made it a annual tradition. Beginning in 1934, the Lions have always hosted a home game on Thanksgiving. Then the Cowboys started playing every Thanksgiving since 1966. The Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers tend to make the occasional appearance on Thanksgiving Thursday. But aren’t officially slated in to play on the holiday. In 2006, a third primetime game was added and this third game can feature any two teams. Till this day, the only team to not ever play on Thanksgiving is the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now it’s 2024, the Thanksgiving games pay homage to the late John Madden. With the NFL naming the Thursday special, the “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration”.

Thanksgiving Records

Detroit Lions: 37-45-2

Dallas Cowboys: 33-22-1

Chicago Bears: 20-15-1

Green Bay Packers: 15-20-2

The Thanksgiving games have tend to bring up some memorable performances in the past years, down below we will drop some of the best performance that have taken place on Thursday, because at a time. The NFL only played on one Thursday out of the year, and that was on Thanksgiving.

1945: Jim Benton has 303 receiving yards

1977: Bob Griese throws six touchdown passes

1979: Earl Campbell rushes for 195 yards

1998: Troy Aikman throws for 455 yards

2004: Peyton Manning throws for six touchdown passes

2010: Tom Brady achieves a perfect passer rating

2018: Amari Cooper scores on a 90-yd touchdown

2019: Cameron Jordan has four sacks

These are just some of the biggest moments that have happened in previous moments in these Thanksgiving games. We’ve seen huge performances from both sides of the field, now their is teams like the Lions and the Packers who have players on their roster that can put their name in the running to break one of these records. It will be a fun Thursday to watch, knowing these previous Thanksgiving highs.

Fun facts for this Thanksgiving special

Only a total of six games have ever went to OT on Thanksgiving, the last one was in 2021, that featured a matchup between the Raiders and the Cowboys.

The Browns, Bengals, Buccaneers and Jaguars are the only teams to not win on Thanksgiving.

Calvin Johnson holds the record for most touchdowns caught on Thanksgiving with 11.

Matthew Stafford and Tony Romo lead the way with 18 touchdown passes on Thanksgiving.

16,320 lbs of Cowboys Mac and Cheese will be prepared for the game today, as well as 13,515lbs of Turkey.

There has not been a shutout in a Thanksgiving game since 1999.

Chicago Bears @ Detroit Lions

12:30 PM ET / CBS / O/U 48

The Chicago Bears will travel down to a loud Detroit to face the red hot Lions who are currently 9-1, and looking to be the first team in the NFL to officially hit 10 wins. The Lions who will be led out by Jared Goff is having a MVP season, despite having that game with 5 interceptions thrown.

Rookie Caleb Williams will try to lead Chicago to victory with a tough Detroit crowd, with a Bears team who in recent weeks has been struggling. On the brightside though, last week D.J Moore was far more active following a change in the coaching department. Moore caught all seven passes thrown his way last Sunday. Now he will need to do that against a tough Lions defense who will be without veteran Carlton Davis due to injury. You can read the full injury report from the Lions Wire with that link!

Now i don’t think the Bears come out and allow them to get trampled on live television, they will 100% put up a fight, but the Lions are just too good at this point in the season where i can choose against them. For that reason, i am predicting the Lions to take the win here against the Bears.

Lions 24 – Bears 21

New York Giants – Dallas Cowboys

2:30 PM ET / FOX / O/U 37.5

This game could very well be the game that we all end up talking about when the day is over. Two backup quarterbacks who are trying to make a name for themself for the upcoming offseason. Both these teams have strong pieces on their teams where potentially any quarterback can thrive in the position, if given enough time. Now i’m not saying this game will be like that one Rams VS Chiefs matchup on Monday Night, but it has the possibility to be decent enough to eat our Thanksgiving dinner too.

Backup QB Tommy Devito will lead out the Giants along with Rookie Malik Nabers who was displeasured last weekend due to not getting many targets before the Giants fell to 35-0 in the game. Now you have to keep your young rookie happy, especially if he’s being so outspoken in the media. If the Giants are able to utilize Nabers, Slayton and Robinson more, i can see the Giants coming out with a sneaky one. Important thing to note, the Giants are currently set to receive the first pick in the NFL Draft, so despite their solid chance at winning today, their sights could be on the draft in April, especially after releasing QB Daniel Jones.

The Cowboys themselves will have their backup QB Cooper Rush lead them out into a very loud and upset Cowboys home team, who hasn’t seen a win since last year. The Cowboys will be playing around the time that the sun will be peaking into the stadium which created some controversy last time around. Now i’m not counting out the Cowboys, they themselves can have a huge game, with Ceedee Lamb proving to everyone why he deserved that big contract. The Cowboys will be without Jake Ferguson but Luke Schoonmaker has done very solid in his previous two starts, getting 50+ receiving yards in each game.

Now i will be breaking down a full in-depth story on the Giants situation during the weekend, but with the 20m they will take on in dead money, it ties their hands at dipping their feet in free agency for a QB. Their next best answer is having their choice in the NFL Draft. I don’t think they will go out and purposefully lose this game. These guys are still out there to win regardless, if the chance presents itself, they are taking it. Now like i said, this could very well end up being the game of the day, but i feel very confident that the Giants walk away with the win and give the Cowboys another home loss. But this game can very well go either way.

Giants 31 – Cowboys 30

Miami Dolphins @ Green Bay Packers

6:25 PM ET / NBC / O/U 47.5

I really hope the Miami team packed their parka’s because the temperature at kickoff will be below freezing, which isn’t gonna be easy for a team who is used to very warm weathers compared to the residents of Green Bay. Now i’ve seen the conversation lately on social media about Tua’s and the Dolphins stats in the cold weather, and their is some truth to it. But let’s give them one more chance to prove themselves. The Dolphins need to win this game to at least keep their name in the conversation for the playoffs. The Dolphins finally welcomed back Tua Tagovailoa a couple of weeks ago and have been on a streak since. Tyreek Hill is also finally finding his footing on the field with the return of his QB.

But Jordan Love and the Packers are used to these conditions, they play half their home games in snow, so this cold weather is just another day to the Packers. The Packers who are currently 8-3 and 3rd in the NFC North, which is arguably the most entertaining division to watch currently will look at the Dolphins for a win, as the Dolphins just look to stay playoff eligible. The Packers currently are 3rd in the league with rush yards per game and are 11th with passing yards.

I really like the games that the NFL put on today, including this one to end the night off, which is another one that can go either way, but if i had to choose one, the Dolphins will need to do everything possible to win tonight. Now for a head coach who’s name has been thrown around about being one of the ones fired on Black Monday, you have to win this weekend. For that reason, i think the Dolphins pull off the upset win on Thanksgiving Night Football on NBC

Dolphins 28 – Packers 21

Once again Happy Thanksgiving! Have a great time with family and friends and solid football, and if you don’t celebrate the holiday, enjoy the awesome football!