The two NFL teams that have played every Thanksgiving since 1966 are the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys.

Who they are

  • The Detroit Lions have a long-standing tradition of hosting a Thanksgiving Day game that dates back to 1934, making them the original staple of the holiday schedule.
  • The Dallas Cowboys were added as a regular Thanksgiving host in 1966 to give the league a second marquee game on the holiday.

Small wrinkle in the streak

  • The Cowboys’ Thanksgiving tradition began in 1966, but they did not host in 1975 and 1977, when the St. Louis Cardinals were given the holiday game instead.
  • Despite those two exceptions, the Lions and Cowboys are widely cited together as the two teams associated with playing every Thanksgiving since 1966 in fan trivia and fun-fact style posts.

So if you see a quiz asking “which two football teams have played every Thanksgiving since 1966?”, the intended answer pair is: Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.