What's more traditional than enjoying a full evening of football with your friends and family during Thanksgiving? Turkey, gravy, and the National Football League are all the things we need to get by on the most important holiday of the year.
Year after year, the league has put together its traditional Thanksgiving schedule, mostly between divisional rivals, to provide fans, analysts, and even bettors with top-notch entertainment during the holiday.
Needless to say, that means that Thanksgiving has seen some of the greatest and most exciting games in NFL history throughout the years. Today, we'll list the top 5 best games we're definitely thankful for.
1986 - Green Bay Packers 44 - Detroit Lions 40
This is one of the most exciting Thanksgiving games we've seen because of how fast-paced and electrifying it was. Packers and Lions went back-and-forth trading scores in one of the biggest shootouts ever, and even though fans had to way a little longer before enjoying their dinner, it was truly entertaining to see the Packers come back from a double-digit deficit twice.
1979 - Houston Oilers 30 - Dallas Cowboys 24
The NFL is a passer's league nowadays but that wasn't the case in the '70s, as you can tell by this game. As a matter of fact, Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini only completed 9 passes throughout the game, while star running back Earl Campbell rushed for 195 yards and a couple of scores to beat the Cowboys.
1980 - Chicago Bears 23 - Detroit Lions 17
Even though you may not tell because of the score, this game was one of the closest and most exciting in Thanksgiving history, as it was the first to ever need overtime to settle the score. Lions and Bears fought hard in regulation thanks to their tough, physical defenses, and then Dave Williams returned the overtime kick for 95 yards to put an epic end to this great game.
1994 - Dallas Cowboys 42 - Green Bay Packers 31
Whenever two of America's most popular teams meet, you know that something special's about to happen, especially on Thanksgiving. That's why Packers and Cowboys didn't disappoint when they met in 1994. Brett Favre was his usual self in this high-scoring affair, but the Cowboys eventually got the win with Jason Garrett under center replacing an injured Troy Aikman.
1974 - Denver Broncos 31 - Detroit Lions 27
The most exciting Thanksgiving game took place in 1974 when the Broncos came back from a 7-point deficit in the second half to beat the Lions. Otis Armstrong was a beast on the ground with 144 rushing yards and a score, while Jon Keyworth added 61 yards and 2 more touchdowns to get past Detroit's tough defense.
