For the first time since 1999, the Detroit Lions will play on both Christmas and Thanksgiving in 2025.
Get ready to spend your holidays with the Detroit Lions . In addition to their annual Thanksgiving Day game, the Lions will be playing on Christmas this year. Minnesota Vikings reporter Ben Goessling reported on Wednesday that the Detroit Lions will face off against the Minnesota Vikings (in Minnesota) on December 25. The game will be televised on Netflix.
The Lions are part of a tripleheader on Christmas, with the first two games airing on Netflix and the third on Prime Video as part of “Thursday Night Football.” The night game on Prime Video has already been leaked: Broncos vs. Chiefs. Interestingly, the Chiefs, too, will be playing on both Christmas and Thanksgiving this year, as they’re paired up against the Dallas Cowboys for the second Thanksgiving Day game.
This is the first time since 1999 that the Lions have had games scheduled on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. That year, the Lions played in the only game on Christmas, losing to the Broncos 17-7 at home.
At the owners meetings this year, Lions president Rod Wood hoped the NFL wouldn’t schedule the team for both holidays but acknowledged it was a possibility.
“I know we’re a big TV draw, so I wouldn’t rule out that they might ask us to do it,” Wood said in April. “I do think, for our fans, asking them to give up Thanksgiving and Christmas to come to a game is a big ask, so I’ve tried to avoid it, but we’ll see what schedule comes out.”
Unfortunately for Wood, they didn’t listen.
You can follow all of the latest Lions 2025 schedule leaks here.