When I think of Thanksgiving, four things come to mind: family, turkey, pie and the Detroit Lions losing in front of a national television audience.
To be fair, the Lions do have more Thanksgiving Day wins (35) than any other team in the NFL. But they also have more losses (32) than any other NFL team, which says a lot considering they play at home every year as a part of the Thanksgiving Classic.
In comparison, the Dallas Cowboys own a 26-14-1 record on Turkey Day, including a 6-3 record this decade with two of the three losses coming against the Denver Broncos.
Recently, things have been even worse for the Lions when playing on the holiday.
Since 2000, the Lions have won just twice in Thanksgiving Day games, losing the other seven times — including the last five in a row. And those losses haven’t been pretty either.
Last year, the Tennessee Titans improved to 11-1 while the Lions fell to 0-12 as Detroit allowed the most points on Thanksgiving Day in team history and suffered its worst-ever defeat on the holiday, falling 47-10. It was the Titans’ run game that dominated, as Tennessee picked up 292 yards on the ground.
In 2004, another AFC South opponent embarrassed the Lions when the Indianapolis Colts crushed Detroit 41-9. In that game, it was the Colts’ passing attack, led by Peyton Manning that did all the damage as the Indianapolis quarterback threw for six touchdowns in that game in less than three quarters of play.
So, when was the last time Detroit won on Turkey Day?
Green Bay fans probably still remember that game from 2003.
The quarterback who shall not be named threw three interceptions, two to Dre’ Bly, and lost a fumble as the Lions rode five Jason Hanson field goals to a 22-14 victory at Ford Field.
That game appeared to have crushed Green Bay’s playoff hopes as the Packers fell to just 6-6 on the season under head coach Mike Sherman. Guard Mike Wahle put it best afterwards.
“At 6-6, with four games left? You think 8-8 is going to get us in the playoffs?” he asked reporters.
Of course, I’m sure Green Bay Packers fans also remember quite well what happened after that game in the season’s final four weeks.
Green Bay went on to win its next four games, finishing 10-6 and winning the NFC North. Eventually, the Packers’ season would end after the infamous 28-yard pass from Donovan McNabb on 4th-and-26 that allowed the Eagles to send the game to overtime and win.
This week, the Packers play the Lions once again on Thanksgiving, for the 19th time overall (the most of any team) and third time this decade.
Detroit has only beaten Green Bay once since that game, but the Lions should come out on top this year for the first time on Thanksgiving since beating the Packers in 2003.
Sure, the Packers are 6-4 to the Lions’ 2-8, and yes, Detroit was shut out 26-0 in Green Bay on Oct. 18, but the Lions may be on the upswing, while many questions remain on both sides of the ball for the Packers.
While both teams barely escaped with home wins Sunday, the Lions’ victory meant a lot more to the future success of their program, even if it was against the lowly Browns.
Matthew Stafford became the first rookie quarterback to throw five touchdown passes since 1937, and by leading his team to a 38-37 victory, snapped a six-game losing streak. Stafford also helped the Lions avoid becoming the first team in NFL history to go 2-32 over any 34-game stretch in a game that could be a franchise-changing moment.
The Packers, on the other hand, came away from Sunday with a victory over the San Francisco 49ers to keep themselves in the mix for a wild card spot. Unfortunately for Green Bay, however, they learned after the game that cornerback Al Harris and linebacker Aaron Kampman would require season-ending knee surgery.
Kampman, who switched from defensive end to linebacker in the offseason, has struggled to adjust to the Packers’ new 3-4 scheme, but losing him is not exactly going to help. And without Harris, an already-thin secondary just got thinner.
All this adds up to a situation that bodes well for Stafford and Detroit, which is 11-6-1 all-time against the Green Bay Packers in Thanksgiving Day games.
Of course, the Detroit defense is nothing to brag about either, so fans on both sides should expect a shootout between two of the best young quarterbacks in the league in Rodgers and Stafford.
Regardless of the outcome, the 2009 version of the NFL’s Thanksgiving Classic should prove much more competitive than a year ago. But if the Lions play like they have over the last 34 games, you could always just have more pie.
Jordan is a senior majoring in journalism and political science. Do you think the Lions could break their Thanksgiving Day losing streak? Or are Aaron Rodgers and the Packers too much for Detroit? Let him know at [email protected].