Packers vs Lions on Thanksgiving - Just Like the Old Days!

One upon a time, kids, in a galaxy far, far away, the most-storied franchise in the NFL -- the Green Bay Packers -- played another proud team, the Detroit Lions, on Thanksgiving Day...seemingly, every Thanksgiving! If you were eating turkey and busting a gut that day, you were also watching the Pack and Lions go at it. Beat actually having to talk to the family, didn't it?

Well, it's back on! The Packers play on Thanksgiving for the first time since 2003. (OK, so it isn't as long ago as it seems.) The Pack lost to the Lions in that game. The horror! The horror!

The game will be nationally televised on Fox beginning at 11:30 a.m. Central time. The game will be played in Detroit. This is the first of three Thanksgiving Day games, the others being the Jets at Dallas at 3:15 p.m. and the Colts at Atlanta at 7:15 p.m. The Jets-Cowboys game will be televised on CBS and the Colts-Falcons game will be exclusive to the NFL Network. So, by the time turkey time rolls around for most folks, the Packer win will be something to savor along with your meal. Then the NFL has provided suitable nap time entertainment for the rest of the day. See: the NFL really is family friendly!

Given the state of the Lions these days, one would think you could pencil in a "W" for the Pack. On the other hand, Detroit in Detroit has often been a game where the "W" stands for all the "what ifs" that happened during the game causing a loss for the Pack. And, despite all the dreams of Packers of yesteryear trouncing the Lions, they are actually 11-18-2 all-time on Thanksgiving Day. Hmmm...maybe that cranberry sauce went bad...hmmm...