GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – For the first time since 2015, the Green Bay Packers will play a Thanksgiving game as the home team as they welcome the Miami Dolphins for what promises to be a cold game at Lambeau Field.
Thursday’s game will be only the third time a game has been played in the city of Green Bay on Thanksgiving. The first of those games was played in 1923 at Bellevue Park when the Packers shut out the Hammond Pros 19-0.
Packers team historian Cliff Christl says the most important Thanksgiving game of them all was an intrasquad game in 1949.
“The Packers were facing $90,000 dollars in debt, and there was a question as to whether they were going to finish or play out their schedule. They announced they were going to play an intra-squad game on Thanksgiving Day to raise funds so they could finish the season. They had a goal of $50,000, they didn’t quite meet it, but it saved the franchise,” says Christl.
A staple of Packers’ Thanksgiving history has been their 21-game rivalry with the Detroit Lions.
Although the Packers won the matchup last season, the Packers have seen darker turkey days.
In 1962, the Packers’ only loss of their season came on Thanksgiving to the Detroit Lions in a game where Christl says the Packers got trounced.
“The Lions just put constant pressure on Starr, they couldn’t move the ball,” recalls Christl.
Shortly after, Vince Lombardi ended the 13-year-long Thanksgiving tradition of playing in Detroit.
“He told Rozelle the Packers no longer wanted to play on Thanksgiving, and that’s why the series ended in 1963. I think he thought it put them at a disadvantage,” says Christl.
Nine years ago the Packers played their first Thanksgiving game at Lambeau Field against the Chicago Bears. Although the Packers lost in a cold, snowy game to their rivals, most people remember the halftime ceremony, when Brett Favre’s name joined many Packer greats on Lambeau’s north facade.
This was also Bart Starr’s last-ever appearance at Lambeau Field, with Starr and Favre sharing a memorable hug after the ceremony.
Thursday’s game will be the 38th time the Green Bay Packers have taken the field on turkey day. They’ve played the third most Thanksgiving games of any franchise, only behind the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions.
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