The Bears' most memorable Thanksgivings: 5 wins to be thankful for

Whether it's in the back yard with your cousins, at the Egg Bowl in Mississippi, or at Ford Field or Cowboys Stadium, playing football on Thanksgiving is a great American tradition. Most football fans know that the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys have been the longtime hosts of NFL football on the fourth Thursday of the month, but what they may not realize is that after those two mainstays, the Chicago Bears have played in the most Thanksgiving games.

Thanksgiving football in the NFL dates back to 1920, and the Bears (or the Decatur Staleys, as they were then known) actually took part in the inaugural festivities, beating the Chicago Tigers in a 6-0 slobberknocker.

All told, the Bears have played 38 times on Thanksgiving, with half of those games coming against the Lions. Only the Packers and Lions have played each other more times on Thanksgiving, but after the two NFC North rivals face off again on Thursday, the Bears will be only two games behind.

Chicago holds an 11-8 Thanksgiving advantage over Detroit through the years, though the Lions are heavy 10.5-point favorites in this game. These are two teams headed in opposite directions, as the Lions have won nine straight while the Bears have dropped five in a row.

The vast difference in the standings between these two teams doesn't mean that the Bears will be offering themselves up as a Thanksgiving sacrifice to the Motor City faithful. Thanksgiving is one of those proverbial days where you "throw the records out," and although the Bears have been coming up short lately, they've been on the verge of breaking through. They also split the season series with a vastly superior Lions team last year, and would have swept the two-game set if not for a late Detroit comeback.

In honor of the Bears playing on Thanksgiving for the first time since 2021, we're taking a chronological look back at five of the most memorable Thanksgiving games in Bears history. After you're done with a trip down memory lane, check out everything you need to know to watch Bears-Lions on Thursday.

1934- Bears spoil the Lions' first Thanksgiving game to remain undefeated

John Madden wouldn't be born for another two years, but you know he would have loved this matchup between George Halas and Potsy Clark. This was a titanic clash, as the Bears entered the game 11-0, while the Lions were 10-1.

The Lions featured a formidable defense that had shut out its first seven opponents on the year, and they held a 16-7 halftime lead in this one. The Bears came back in the second half though, ultimately winning 19-16 on a Bronko Nagurski halfback pass to Bill McKalip from the 2-yard line.

The Bears would go on to beat the Lions again just a few days later to finish the regular season undefeated, but much like the Patriots over 70 years later, they saw their dreams of perfection dashed by the New York Giants in the playoffs.

1977- Walter Payton has over 100 yards rushing and receiving in a 31-14 Bears win

Somebody please pass the cranberry sauce, because we could all use a little Sweetness on Turkey Day.

Walter Payton didn't have as many opportunities to shine on Thanksgiving as fellow greats Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders, but he usually put on a show whenever he was given the chance. Payton ran for 179 yards against the Cowboys in 1981, but as was so often the case in those days, he had little help from his teammates, and the Bears lost 10-9.

Payton won the MVP award in 1977 thanks to a league-leading 1,852 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns, and he had one of his best performances of the year for Thanksgiving.

Payton helped the Bears overcome five turnovers by running for 137 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, while also leading the team in receiving with four receptions for 107 yards, one of which was a 75-yard score to give the Bears a first-half lead they would never relinquish.

1980- Bears beat the Lions with an overtime walkoff kickoff return

The early Thanksgiving game is in the fourth quarter and time is running out, but the rest of the family is calling for you to get off the couch and carve the turkey. We've all been there before, right?

The game between the Bears and the Lions on Thanksgiving Day in 1980 was threatening to get a whole lot of husbands into trouble after Bears quarterback Vince Evans led Chicago on a 94-yard, game-tying touchdown drive at the end of regulation, but thankfully, Bears kick returner Dave Williams saved the day by taking the opening kick of OT 95 yards to the house to give the Bears the 23-17 win.

The Bears were down 17-3 after three quarters, but found a way to pull off the shocking comeback, with Walter Payton contributing 123 yards on the ground. This was the first Thanksgiving game to ever go to overtime, and as far as my research can tell, is the only NFL overtime game to ever end on a kickoff return for a touchdown. It makes sense then why this old Chicago Tribune article quotes Bears coach Neill Armstrong as saying, "I've never been as pleased or as happy after a game as I am today."

2015- Bears spoil Brett Favre's jersey retirement on Thanksgiving night

As a Bears fan who has spent a lifetime not liking Packers quarterbacks, it's been a vindicating feeling in recent years to see others come around on the many reasons to not be a fan of Brett Favre.

Long before there were unsolicited photos and Mississippi welfare money scandals, there was the simple fact that Favre was good at football, and his Packers usually got the best of my Bears. That's why it was so gratifying when the Bears ruined his jersey retirement ceremony on Thanksgiving night in 2015, and it feels even better in retrospect.

The Bears and Packers had never met on Thanksgiving before, but once the NFL added a third Thanksgiving game in 2006, it opened up the possibility that the two longtime rivals could play. Favre's successor, Aaron Rodgers, famously owned the Bears even more than Favre did, eventually concluding his own Packers career with a 26-5 record against Chicago, but this was one of the few instances when the Bears got the best of him, and they did it with Favre and even Bart Starr in attendance.

This game was played in rainy, miserable weather, which helped the Bears defense keep Rodgers in check. Tracy Porter picked off a pass late in the fourth quarter, and although Rodgers led the Pack 72 yards down the field on the final drive, the defense forced four straight incompletions from the eight-yard line to get the 17-13 win.

2019- Mitch Trubisky leads the Bears to a comeback win

The Bears have infamously been searching for a quarterback for decades, and it looks like that long wait is finally over now that Caleb Williams is under center. As thankful as I am for Caleb though, I still have love for his predecessors.

We can talk about Rex Grossman, Kyle Orton, Jay Cutler, Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields all day and the smile would never leave my face. None of these guys ever totally fulfilled their potential, but they provided good memories nonetheless, and most, if not all, were victimized by bad coaching and/or poor talent around them.

Trubisky gets a bad rap because the Bears took him when Patrick Mahomes was still on the board, but he had his moments, with the 2019 Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit being one of his best.

Trubisky threw for three touchdowns in this game against the Lions, and he helped the Bears fight back from an early 10-point deficit against a surprisingly effective David Blough, who was filling in for an injured Matthew Stafford. Trubisky saved his best for last, leading a 90-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter that included two over-30-yard completions to Anthony Miller (remember him?) and a two-yard touchdown pass to David Montgomery.

This win got the Bears to .500 on the year and remains one of Trubisky's best moments as a Bear.