Lions to host Bears to kick off Thanksgiving Day slate

Although the Lions are coming off an unsettling 9-8 playoff-less season, it was their fourth consecutive successful marketing campaign. Indeed a lot has modified for the higher since head coach Dan Campbell took over in 2021, together with a 23-20 victory over Williams and the Bears within the 2024 Thanksgiving Game. Chicago trailed, 23-7, earlier than the Bears rallied, just for a clock administration gaffe by Williams and Bears coaches to wrap up the defeat. The subsequent day, head coach Matt Eberflus was firedopening the door for Johnson’s eventual arrival. The triumph was the Lions’ first on Thanksgiving since 2016.

Following that turkey day transvestite for Williams and the Bears, the stage for extra rivalry drama is about.

Only the Lions and Green Bay Packers have met on Thanksgiving greater than Detroit and Chicago. The Bears personal the vacation edge, 11-9. Detroit is 38-46-2 all time on Thanksgiving, having first performed on the vacation in 1934 and yearly since 1945.

It was the Bears who performed — and defeated — the Lions within the latter’s first-ever Turkey Day tussle, prevailing, 19-16, on Nov. 29, 1934, when Hall of Famer Bill Hewitt caught a 2-yard, game-winning landing from Hall of Famer Bronko Nagurski.

More than 90 years later, the 2 long-time rivals will battle as soon as extra, persevering with one of many NFL’s longest-standing and most celebrated traditions: Thanksgiving Day soccer in Detroit.