The NFL Just Delivered the Most Predictable Thanksgiving Matchup Possible
The NFL does not want you to have fun on Thanksgiving. It wants to show the same thing you’ve always seen, and here we go again.
The Lions will host the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving. Again. Because apparently the league office looked at all 31 other teams and said, “You know what? Let’s run this back.”
This is the same matchup we got just two seasons ago. The Lions played the Packers last year and in 2023 as well. In the last 15 years, the NFL has forced the Lions to play an NFC North opponent in 11 of those games.
I’m pretty sure Bears and Packers fans are sick of it too.
Remember When Thanksgiving Was Actually Good?
Look back at the Dan Campbell era. What was the best Thanksgiving game you saw during that time?
It was the one game they didn’t play a division rival. Their game against the Bills. Everyone universally loved that game, and the hope was that the league would build off of that and introduce some new teams to the holiday.
Instead, they’re going the laziest route possible.
The Patriots were right there. Yes, that’s the Germany game, and that’s cool. But damn, if you’re an NFL fan whose team isn’t playing that day, that was the game you would have wanted to watch. It’s a game you have no stock in, but know you’re going to get a fun performance.
Instead, you get to watch the game you just watched a couple of years ago.
The Ben Johnson Angle Doesn’t Save This
Yes, there are stakes to the game in this case. Dan Campbell vs Ben Johnson will give people reason to want to tune in, but this would have been much more interesting on a Monday Night on ESPN than on Thanksgiving, where you’ve seen it a million times.
It’s like Christmas Story playing all day on TBS. Who is that for? We’ve all seen that movie more than any other movie we’ve ever seen.
Chicago won the NFC North last season, but went 0-2 vs. Detroit. So we get to watch a rivalry where one team already swept the other, on a holiday where we’ve watched this exact matchup before.
Welp, maybe the NFL will get interesting with it next year. But they’ll probably just play the Packers again.
Are you excited to watch the same Thanksgiving game for the third time in four years, or should the NFL actually try something new? Let me know in the comments.
I get the frustration but honestly I’m just hyped to see this team play meaningful football on Thanksgiving at all. Dan Campbell has turned this thing around and I’d rather watch our guys battle it out than get some random matchup that nobody cares about. Sure the Bears game isn’t sexy, but it matters.
The Ben Johnson angle is real though, you can’t just brush that off. Yeah we’ve seen this before but the storylines are different now. That said, you’re right that the NFL could’ve gotten more creative here. They play it safe way too often.
Man, back in the day we’d have killed to be in this position where Thanksgiving was actually meaningful for us. The league used to do us dirty with these games. At least now with Campbell running things we know we’re getting a competitive team that gives a damn. Still wish they’d shake it up though.
Comparing this to Christmas Story is perfect lol. Nobody’s asking to watch the same movie over and over. There’s 31 other teams and the league just keeps going back to the same three opponents. It’s lazy and honestly kind of disrespectful to Lions fans who deserve better.