Thanksgiving is built on a few simple pillars: way too much food, that one relative who doesn't know when to stop talking, and wall‑to‑wall football in the background from late morning until you’re fighting sleep on the couch.

The NFL has always been a Thanksgiving staple, but lately it feels like they’ve turned the holiday into a full‑blown showcase. They’re not just tossing a couple of games on the schedule anymore — they’re leaning into it. In 2025, that means a three‑game slate that takes over the entire day, spread across FOX, CBS, and NBC, with halftime shows that feel more like mini Super Bowl sets than the old "here’s a band, enjoy your break" routine. It’s clear the league knows everyone’s planted on the couch anyway, so they’re giving you a reason to stay there.

Football’s First Holiday

The NFL absolutely owns Thanksgiving. They’ve set Turkey-Day viewership records for three straight seasons now, averaging around 34 million viewers per game across the triple‑header.

And it’s not just the games anymore. The halftime shows have quietly turned into some of the biggest live music moments of the year. Outside of the Super Bowl halftime itself, these Thanksgiving performances pull in more eyeballs than New Year’s specials, major concerts, and pretty much every music awards show combined. The league knows nobody’s getting off the couch, not with food comas setting in. They treat halftime like its own attraction, something you don’t want to flip away from even if you swear you only watch “for the football.”

Then there’s the incredible tradition.

• The Detroit Lions have been playing on Thanksgiving since 1934, going 38-45-2 through that stretch. That's 85 appearances and solidifying themselves as the morning soundtrack to the holiday, whether they’re good, bad, or somewhere confusing in between.

• The Dallas Cowboys jumped in during the mid‑1960s and turned the afternoon slot into their personal runway. They're 34-22-1 on Thanksgiving and love turning it into a whole production every single year.

Game 1: Packers at Lions – The Early Kickoff in Detroit

Matchup: Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions
Kickoff: 1:00 p.m. ET
Where: Ford Field, Detroit
Watch on: FOX

Thanksgiving officially starts the moment the Lions kick off. By that time, there's usually already someone arguing about who's cooking what, and those of us in the football crowd know it's time to get out of their way and find our spot by the television. 

This year, it’s a classic NFC North flavor: Packers vs. Lions, in Detroit, in a game that could shake up the NFC playoff picture.

A few things to note:

• The Packers are no strangers to the holiday either, logging 38 Thanksgiving games of their own over the years (16–20–2 overall).

• This will be the 23rd time these two have met specifically on Thanksgiving, with Detroit holding a slight edge in the holiday series at 12–9–1.

There’s also a little extra juice baked into this one, with it being a rematch of their Week 1 meeting when Green Bay absolutely laid the smack down on Detroit to open the year. You don’t have to oversell that — players definitely remember getting punched in the mouth on national TV, and Thanksgiving is the perfect stage to answer back. 

How to Watch Packers–Lions

Traditional TV:

• FOX has the early window. If you’ve got cable, satellite, or any live‑TV streaming plan that includes your local FOX affiliate, you’re locked in. No hunting for alternate feeds or weird regional broadcasts — just flip it on and you’re good.

Streaming options:

• FOX ONE / FoxSports.com – The easiest option if you’re bouncing around the house or trying to keep an eye on the game without being glued to the TV. Just sign in with whatever TV provider you’ve got or subscribe to their Fox ONE plan, and it’ll run on pretty much anything with a screen.

• NFL+ – If you’re already subscribed, you’re good. NFL+ now lets you watch local and primetime games right inside the NFL app, which is available on most smart TVs. And if your TV doesn’t have the app, you can still just cast it straight from your phone. It’s a surprisingly solid option for Thanksgiving — especially if you’re drifting between rooms or trying to sneak in the early game while pretending to “help out” in the kitchen.

Free options:

• FOX is offering free streaming through Tubi for this one, which is honestly a great fallback if your cable login mysteriously stops working or you’re watching from a TV that doesn’t have anything set up. Just open the app, click the game, and let it run. Zero friction.

Jack White in His Own Backyard

Ford Field is going loud this year — like, that “you can feel it through the TV” kind of loud. The Lions aren’t just throwing some random act on stage; they’re putting on a show that actually represents the city.

Jack White — who’s in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and helped shape the garage‑rock revival with The White Stripes — was born and raised in Detroit. Every Thanksgiving, the Lions try to make their halftime show feel like Detroit. This year, they went all‑in.

And they didn’t stop with the headliner:

• Executive Producers: They tapped Eminem and his longtime manager, Paul Rosenberg, to help build the show through their Shady Records crew. When Detroit artists are putting the Detroit halftime show together, you know you’re getting something authentic.

• National Anthem: Gospel icon CeCe Winans is handling the anthem pre‑game. Even if you’ve never heard her before, you’ll know within two seconds you’re listening to someone with real vocal power.

This halftime show is really about giving the city its moment. Detroit takes pride in these things, and you can feel that in the way they put this together — it’s bigger, louder, and way more intentional than your usual midseason halftime set. You’re getting a performance worth sticking around for, and it adds a little extra flavor to a matchup that already has plenty on its own.

Game 2: Chiefs at Cowboys – The Star‑Studded Afternoon Show

Matchup: Kansas City Chiefs at Dallas Cowboys
Kickoff: 4:30 p.m. ET
Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington
Watch on: CBS

If the early game is about tradition and divisional grudges, the afternoon game is pure star power.

Any time the Dallas Cowboys are playing, the ratings spike. Any time the Kansas City Chiefs are playing, the ratings spike. Put both on the same field, on Thanksgiving, and the numbers are going to be absurd...

No team treats Thanksgiving like an annual showcase quite like Dallas.

• They’ve recently been on a heater, winning their last three Thanksgiving games, all against divisional opponents.

• They’ve turned halftime into a full-blown concert for nearly three decades, pulling in names you’d normally see headlining award shows, not NFL halftimes. Destiny’s Child, Kelly Clarkson, Luke Bryan, Dolly Parton, even Jack Harlow’s been out there. No other Thanksgiving game even comes close to that level of star power.

This year, the opponent isn’t a division rival — it’s Patrick Mahomes and the current dynasty of the NFL, the Chiefs. That’s about as close as you can get to a marquee matchup on a holiday.

How to Watch Chiefs–Cowboys

Traditional TV:

• CBS has the game nationally. If you have cable, satellite, or a live‑TV streaming package that includes CBS, you’re set.

Streaming options:

• Paramount+ – If you’re a cord‑cutter, this is the big one. Paramount+ carries local CBS broadcasts, and this game is part of that package.

• CBS Sports app / CBSSports.com – Log in with your TV provider and stream on pretty much any device.

• NFL+ – Again, because it's the only game on, you can watch this anywhere in the NFL app with NFL+. 

Stars on the Field, Stars on the Stage

This is where the entertainment side of Thanksgiving really kicks into gear.

Halftime at AT&T Stadium isn’t just “a break in the action.” It doubles as the Red Kettle Kickoff, the annual launch of The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign. The Cowboys have been tied to this moment for nearly three decades, and at this point, it’s as much a part of their Thanksgiving identity as the blue star on the helmet. Big‑time music, charity, and a stadium built for spectacle — that’s the formula.

And in 2025, the guy taking the stage is Post Malone.

• He’s a nine‑time diamond‑certified superstar, but for Cowboys fans, the more fun detail is that he’s a Texas native and a real‑deal fan of the team.

• He’s talked about watching this exact halftime show growing up, which adds a cool full‑circle vibe to the whole thing — this isn’t just another tour date to him.

If you’ve watched Cowboys Thanksgiving halftimes over the years, you already know what to expect: big lights, clean camera work, and a level of polish you don’t usually get in the middle of a regular‑season game. Even the casual fans who normally use halftime to go top off a plate end up sticking around.

With Mahomes and the Chiefs on one sideline and Prescott and the Cowboys on the other, the star power doesn’t take a break just because the players head into the locker room — it just swaps helmets for microphones.

Game 3: Bengals at Ravens – Primetime in the AFC North

Matchup: Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens
Kickoff: 8:20 p.m. ET
Where: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore
Watch on: NBC

By the time this one kicks off, you’re either in full food‑coma territory or thinking about seconds of dessert. Either way, the NFL saved a legit heavyweight fight for the nightcap. It’s hard to ask for much more than Bengals vs. Ravens under the lights in Baltimore — especially with Joe Burrow back under center to face off against Lamar Jackson.

Unlike Detroit and Dallas, Cincinnati and Baltimore don’t exactly live on Thanksgiving. That’s part of what makes this matchup feel refreshing. It’s new air in a day that’s usually built on routine.

For the Bengals, this is almost uncharted territory:

• It’s just their second Thanksgiving appearance ever, which is wild when you think about how long the franchise has been around.

• The only other one came back on November 25, 2010, a 25–10 loss to the Jets — a game most people have either forgotten or actively chosen not to remember.

The Ravens don’t exactly have a long holiday resume either:

• This will be only their third Thanksgiving game.

• They’re 2–0 so far, with wins in 2011 and 2013, including a classic throwback brawl with the Steelers that felt straight out of a different era — cold weather, heavy hits, and two teams that genuinely don’t like each other.

Then there’s the quarterback storyline, which is carrying a lot of the intrigue here.

• For Lamar Jackson, this is his first-ever Thanksgiving start, which is kind of surprising considering how long he’s been one of the faces of the AFC. His style — explosive, unpredictable, fun — feels tailor-made for a national holiday game.

• On the Cincinnati side, everything comes down to Joe Burrow’s health. The toe injury in Week 2 has been hanging over their season, but if he’s back and anywhere close to himself, it completely changes the temperature of the game.

How to Watch Bengals–Ravens

Traditional TV:

• NBC is carrying this one in that familiar Sunday Night Football slot — big stage, big broadcast, no hoops to jump through. If you get NBC through cable, satellite, or any live‑TV streaming setup that includes local channels, you’re set. Just flip it on like any other primetime game.

Streaming options:

• Peacock – NBC streams all their SNF games here, and this one drops right into the lineup. If you already use Peacock, the game will be sitting front and center. No extra steps.

• NBC Sports app / NBCSports.com – If you’re logged into a TV provider and want something quick on your phone, tablet, or laptop, this is usually the cleanest option. It’s great if you’re bouncing between rooms or trying to keep the game on while you’re helping pack leftovers.

• NFL+ – Solid fallback for this window. Anywhere you’ve got the NFL app, you’ve got the game — living room, kitchen, car ride home, wherever. And because the app is on most smart TVs now, you can fire it up directly or just cast it from your phone without any hassle.

Lil Jon Turns Up in Baltimore

For the nightcap, the league went in a completely different musical direction — and honestly, it fits the moment. The Bengals and Ravens already bring a lot of energy on their own, so dropping a halftime act that matches that intensity feels intentional.

Lil Jon — the Grammy‑winning rapper, producer, and DJ behind more party anthems than most people realize they know — is taking over halftime at M&T Bank Stadium. If you’ve ever heard even five seconds of one of his songs, you know exactly what you’re getting here. High energy. Heavy bass. And a whole lot of volume.

It’s a fun contrast to the pre‑game moment, where Renée Elise Goldsberry — best known for Hamilton and Girls5eva — is handling the national anthem. Broadway‑level vocals to kick things off, then a full‑tilt party set once the teams hit the locker room. Definitely an interesting combo.

A Thanksgiving Slate Worth Every Bite

The nice thing about the 2025 Thanksgiving slate is that it doesn’t really need any selling.

• You get Packers–Lions to kick things off — a classic NFC North matchup layered on top of decades of Thanksgiving history and a revenge angle from Week 1.

• You get Chiefs–Cowboys in the afternoon — two of the league’s biggest brands, two high‑profile quarterbacks, and a halftime show with Post Malone launching the Red Kettle campaign.

• You get Bengals–Ravens to close — a modern AFC rivalry with real edge, Lamar’s Thanksgiving debut, and a loud primetime stage in Baltimore.

The halftime shows are legitimately worth watching. The streaming options are as accessible as they’ve ever been. And the league has figured out how to turn the entire day into a casual marathon — one you can dip in and out of between family, food, and whatever chaos is happening in the kitchen.

You don’t have to memorize the records or know every player on the field to enjoy it. But if you want to sound like you’ve done your homework when someone asks, “Wait, how often do the Lions even win on Thanksgiving?” — now you’ve got the answers.

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