Why do the Detroit Lions play on Thanksgiving every year?

ALLEN PARK - Why do the Detroit Lions always play on Thanksgiving?

Go ahead, admit it. You’ve asked that question, too. The Lions have been invited to America’s Thanksgiving table for as long as most of us can remember, and while there were some good teams and games along the way, there were a lot of really bad ones too. Yet the Lions have continued to host the annual holiday game every year since 1934, except for the World War II era.

So, why is that? To find the answer to that oft-asked question, you have to go all the way back to 1934, and a radio executive named G.A. Richards who decided to buy the Portsmouth Spartans football club for $15,000. He immediately moved the team to Detroit, where the Tigers - who were amid back-to-back trips to the World Series - were the big show in town.

Richards wanted to juice up interest in the new football team, which he renamed the Lions, and conjured an idea so out-of-the-box that many thought it would be a flop.

Not only would the Lions host a game on a Thursday, but Thanksgiving Day? Really?

“It was considered a huge risk,” Lions team historian Bill Keenist said. “I mean, people thought he was crazy. ‘Are you kidding me? You’re going to play an NFL game on Thanksgiving? Let alone on a Thursday? Are you kidding me?’”

Thing is, it worked.

The Lions drew 25,000 fans for the inaugural Thanksgiving game at University of Detroit Stadium, nearly double their season average, while another 15,000 were turned away at the gates. More crucially, Richards was able to use his media connections to secure a national radio broadcast, a first in the history of the NFL. The game was carried on 94 stations from coast- to coast, providing the burgeoning league with its grandest stage to date.

The Lions lost 19-16 against Chicago that day, but a tradition was born.

“From that point forward, I don’t think there’s a greater (holiday) tradition in all of sports than the Lions on Thanksgiving,” Keenist said. “It’s morphed into football on Thanksgiving, and it wouldn’t be there if the Lions hadn’t taken the chance, rolled the dice a little bit, and hit it. ... It’s just such an incredibly special day for Michigan and Detroit.”

Almost 90 years later, the Lions have become nearly as synonymous with Thanksgiving as turkey and stuffing. Of course, they’ve been stuffed a few times too. They haven’t won a division title since 1993 and a playoff game since 1991, and their prolonged struggles have sometimes been exposed on the national stage. They’ve now lost six straight games on the holiday for which they’re known, and are 37-44-2 overall.

No matter how bad things got, the Lions were always served on Thanksgiving, whether anyone actually wanted to watch them or not. There have been occasional rumors about whether the Lions should continue to hold the 12:30 p.m. slot on Thanksgiving, although aside from a proposal by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1994 that went nowhere, Detroit’s place on the Thanksgiving menu has never been threatened.

“Bill Ford made an impassioned speech to ownership,” Keenist said, “and I’m not even sure if it went to a vote after Bill talked.”

This year, you won’t hear complaints about the Lions playing on Thanksgiving. The Lions (8-2) have captured the nation’s attention under Dan Campbell, and turned an offseason hype machine into a 2.5-game lead in the NFC North. With a charismatic head coach and dynamic offense that is among the best in the game, Detroit - now off to its best start since 1962 - has become one of the darlings of the young season.

Now they host the rival Green Bay Packers with a chance to tighten their grip on a division they have never won - and do it on the big Thanksgiving stage, providing a showcase opportunity for one of the league’s best young teams.

For a guy like left tackle Taylor Decker, who is one of just two guys on the roster who have actually won with the Lions on Thanksgiving, and the only guy left who has been around for the duration of all the struggles since, this moment means a lot.

“We want people to see us,” Decker said. “I remember when people didn’t want to watch us, and it sucked. As much work as you put in, you want people to see you play. It’s our life. It’s all we do. It’s just special that people want to see us play. It’s special that we’re getting flexed, and people want to see the Lions. I’ve said this a million times, because I’ve been on the flip side of it, where people didn’t want to watch us play.

“It’s weird, and definitely something I don’t take for granted. It’s a privilege that people want to see us play.”

This year’s edition of the Thanksgiving game rekindles one of the oldest traditions in the series. Detroit hosted Green Bay every Thanksgiving from 1951-63, an era that was often dominated by those two teams. The 1953 game was the first game played on national TV, and the nation saw Detroit dump the Packers 34-15 en route to an NFL championship.

Detroit beat Green Bay nine times in 11 years during that stretch, and delivered perhaps the best Thanksgiving performance ever in 1962. The Packers were 10-0 at the time and had won 12 straight games overall, including the 1961 NFL championship game. Then they made their way across Lake Michigan and got pasted by Detroit at Tiger Stadium, falling behind 26-0 and ultimately losing 26-14.

Sacks were a long way from becoming an official statistic, but Detroit pummeled Hall-of-Fame quarterback Bart Starr nine times in the backfield. With that, legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi had seen enough and petitioned the league to pull the plug on Green Bay’s annual pilgrimage to Detroit on Thanksgiving.

”The big reason I’m against it is because four days is not enough time to get ready for a game,” Lombardi told reporters at Tiger Stadium.

Uh-huh. Sure, coach. .

The Lions and Packers met once more in 1963, battling each other to a 13-all tie, then called it quits on their annual Thanksgiving series. They didn’t play each other again on the holiday for another 20 years, and have still played each other just eight times since, most recently a 40-10 triumph by Detroit in 2013.

That gave the Lions a division lead heading into the final month of the season.

This year, they hope to tighten their grip on the division lead heading into the final month of the season - and this time, finish the deal.

“It’s special obviously for this organization, because it’s such a staple,” Decker said. “It’s something we’ve done forever. And I feel like everybody in America is watching us on Thanksgiving. That’s an American thing. I remember watching (when I was a kid in Ohio), too. Now getting to be a part of it, until recently, it was our only opportunity to play on a national stage. That was always special. It’s a cool thing, and this year, yeah, it’s really cool.”

Thanksgiving results, Super Bowl era

Bills 28, Lions 25

: Bears 16, Lions 14

Texans 41, Lions 25

Bears 24, Lions 20

Bears 23, Lions 16

Vikings 30, Lions 23

Lions 16, Vikings 13

Lions 45, Eagles 14

Lions 34, Bears 17

Lions 40, Packers 10

Texans 34, Lions 31 (OT)

Packers 27, Lions 15

Patriots 45, Lions 24

Packers 34, Lions 12

Titans 47, Lions 10

Packers 37, Lions 26

Dolphins 27, Lions 10

Falcons 27, Lions 7

Colts 41, Lions 9

Lions 22, Packers 14

Patriots 20, Lions 12

Packers 29, Lions 27

Lions 34, Patriots 9

Lions 21, Bears 17

Lions 19, Steelers 16 (OT)

Lions 55, Bears 20

Chiefs 28, Lions 24

Lions 44, Vikings 38

Lions 35, Bills 21

Bears 10, Lions 6

Oilers 24, Lions 21

Lions 16, Bears 6

Lions 40, Broncos 27

Lions 13, Browns 10

Vikings 23, Lions 0

Chiefs 27, Lions 20

Packers 44, Lions 40

Lions 31, Jets 20

Lions 31, Packers 28

Lions 45, Steelers 3

Giants 13, Lions 6

Lions 27, Chiefs 10

Bears 23, Lions 17 (OT)

Lions 20, Bears 0

Lions 17, Broncos 14

Bears 31, Lions 14

Lions 27, Bills 14

Rams 20, Lions 0

Broncos 31, Lions 27

Commanders 20, Lions 0

Lions 37, Jets 20

Lions 32, Chiefs 21

Lions 28, Raiders 14

Vikings 27, Lions 0

Eagles 12, Lions 0

Rams 31, Lions 7