I love Thanksgiving; it is truly is the perfect holiday for NFL fans. It is socially acceptable to eat like you?re at a tailgate party and NFL football is expected to be on televisions across the land. Each year, I only seem to have one gripe about this outstanding holiday; I am from Chicago and I want to watch the Bears. I am jealous every year of the folks in Dallas and Detroit. How did these cities become so lucky? Who decided that the Cowboys and Lions were the Popes of Thanksgiving Day, and just when did all of this craziness begin? When the questions became so loud in my mind that I couldn?t enjoy my leftover drumstick, I did a little research.

NFL Football on Thanksgiving has been a part of life in Dallas since 1966. The Cowboys have played on every Thanksgiving since ?66 with the exception of 1975 and 1977. However, everyone knows that the big daddy of Turkey Day is the Detroit Lions. The Lions have been playing the Turkey Bowl since 1934 (with the exceptions of 1939-1944). The team sunk their claws into the Thanksgiving Day football tradition shortly after the team moved to Detroit from Ohio in 1933. The Lions originally played on the holiday as a means of creating interest in football and luring fans away from the established and beloved Detroit Tigers. A crucial victory against the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day in 1935 helped the Lions? win the team?s first NFL championship and also went a long way towards establishing the Lions in Detroit.

As much as the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys have grown to symbolize football on Thanksgiving today, the tradition predates both teams. Six pro football games were played on Thanksgiving Day in 1920, including a 6-0 victory by the Decatur Staleys over the Chicago Tigers (the Staleys later became the Chicago Bears). From 1920 until 1938, the Bears played on Thanksgiving Day (from ?20-33 against the Chicago Cardinals and ?34-38 against the Lions). The tradition of the Bears playing the Lions has continued sporadically throughout the years. In fact, the Bears have played 30 times on Thanksgiving Day in team history, the most of franchise other than the Lions and Cowboys (the Cowboys have played just 8 more times on the Thanksgiving than the Bears).

In recent years, the honor of playing in Dallas or Detroit on Thanksgiving is a rotating prize. While I would?ve liked to have seen my Bears play on the big day, I was more than happy to find another big paw print across the NFL record books and to learn that football on Thanksgiving has been a proud underground tradition in Chicago for a long while.

Happy Thanksgiving and Go Bears!!!