The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us, and that means one thing in the Motor City: The Detroit Lions have their traditional Thanksgiving game. This year, the Lions will take on the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving at Ford Field, and a win will push them up in the NFC North, which is crucial right now.
So, watching the Detroit Lions play on Thanksgiving is nothing new. The NFL’s official Thanksgiving Day games have featured one game hosted by the Detroit Lions since 1934 and one showdown hosted by the Dallas Cowboys since 1966, with just a few exceptions, according to ESPN research. Starting in 2006, the NFL added one prime time Thanksgiving game with no set teams.
This year’s games include the Lions and Packers early, followed by the Kansas City Chiefs against the Dallas Cowboys and rounded out by the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens in prime time. But, the Lions and Packers game is a bit different this year. When nobody was watching, the NFL made a change to the team’s schedule.
A Change to the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers’ Thanksgiving Game
The early Thanksgiving game traditionally starts at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time. But, that’s not happening this year.
The NFL changed the early Thanksgiving game this year to start 30 minutes later than usual, so it starts at 1 p.m. Eastern time. This might not seem like a big change, but it certainly impacts when the Lions and Packers audience turns on the TV or heads to a tailgate.
“So I gotta spend an extra 30 minutes listening to my family?” one follower joked on X. “Probably a good idea. Next year we need four games, one international starting at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time,” another said.
Detroit Lions Heading Into Packers Game
The Detroit Lions are slowly coming up in NFL power rankings after their close win over the New York Giants on Sunday, November 23. CBS Sports pushed them up two spots to No. 8 but has a cautionary message for the team.
“They rallied to beat the Giants at home, but the close game is not a good look against a bad team,” Pete Prisco of CBS noted. “They have to be better this week against the Packers.”
“Lions are 7–4, and they’re giving us hope, heartbreak, and that raw, ‘anything can happen’ energy,” Amber Reed of Alternative Fix notes in their tally, which also has the Lions at No. 8. “They’ve crawled, leapt, and clawed just to stay in the mix. Some games have felt like survival sagas. Some like glorious near-misses. But through it all: they fight. And in November of a brutal NFL season, that fight feels good to watch.”
The NFL also has the Lions at No. 8. “This has been a gauntlet of a schedule, so the Lions are allowed a tough game here and there, and they remain strong contenders for both the playoffs and a third straight division title,” Eric Edholm of the NFL states. “Still, it’s hard not to be a little antsy about their chances with so many more tough games remaining and some issues seemingly not going away.”
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