By George B. Eichorn
There’s nothing to match what the City of Detroit offers on Thanksgiving Day: America’s Thanksgiving Parade followed by a nationally televised Detroit Lions football game. The tradition continues Thursday, November 28 as the Lions play their 80th Turkey Day game, 12:30 p.m. against the Chicago Bears.
Four generations have now been a part of Lions football on Thanksgiving Day. Grandfathers, fathers, sons and daughters have all enjoyed a trip downtown to see their gridiron heroes as they try to make the turkey dinner taste even better when back home! Thanksgiving football is passion in this city. Let’s hope no one takes this great tradition away from our sporting calendar. Dallas is the only other city which hosts the holiday game continuously.
Last year on the national holiday, the Lions dropped a 23-16 game to the Bears. Running back LeGarrette Blount rushed for two touchdowns while kicker Matt Prater added a 20-yard field goal. Quarterback Matthew Stafford throw two costly interceptions along with completing 28-of-38 passes for 236 yards.
The Lions hope this Thanksgiving is different. Both teams are struggling to stay afloat in the NFC North. Detroit is just 3-6-1 at press time while the Bears are 4-6. This is the 18th time in history the two clubs have met on Turkey Day. The Bears lead the holiday series, 9 wins to 8. Only the Green Bay Packers (21 times) have faced the Lions more times on this holiday.
The largest crowd to see the Lions at Ford Field on Thanksgiving was in 2017 when the Minnesota Vikings attracted 66,613 and defeated Detroit, 30-23. The largest Silverdome holiday crowd was 1991 when the Bears supplied the opposition. The Lions won 16-6 before 78,879 fans. The largest crowd at Briggs/Tiger Stadium was the famous “Snow Bowl” game in 1969 when the Vikings shut out the Lions, 27-0 in front of 57,906 including this reporter.
Stafford, who will likely miss the game due to a back injury, was asked about his Thanksgiving memories before last year’s game.
“I’ve been a part of some fun ones, been a part of some not so fun ones. So, I would imagine all the ones we won are my favorites. Philly was fun a couple years ago. I don’t remember what year that was, but Calvin (Johnson) had a big one and that was a fun one.
“It’s awesome. I grew up watching it as a Cowboys fan. I’ve been a part of it now for 10 years here. It’s cool that the city, and the fans, and really our team, we embrace this game, we love it. We love playing it every year. So, it’s just a great tradition to be a part of and obviously a lot of fun when you win it.”
On if Stafford has a personal tradition on the holiday: “I just eat a ton of food like everybody else. Eat a bunch of food, relax a little bit. It’s kind of a nice, (with a) couple days off for us.”
FOX (channel 2 locally) will have the national telecast with Joe Buck, Tony Romo and sideline reporting by either Tracy Wolfson or Erin Andrews at Ford Field. Dan Miller and Lomas Brown have the radio call on WJR-AM 760. A national radio broadcast by Westwood One is also scheduled from here.
