For the first time, NFL fans will have appointment viewing throughout Thanksgiving week.
Week 12 will kick off with a Thanksgiving Eve tilt to set the table for the now-annual Thanksgiving Day tripleheader, which will be followed with the league's burgeoning tradition of a showcase game on Black Friday.
Here's a game-by-game look at the three-day, five-tilt slate that is sure to satisfy every NFL glutton.
Thanksgiving Eve
- WHERE: SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, Calif.)
- WHEN: 8 p.m. ET | Netflix
A pair of NFC heavyweights will lock up in the NFL's newest holiday offering.
Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers will travel to face reigning AP NFL Most Valuable Player Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams on Thanksgiving Eve, Nov. 25.
Old friends Sean McVay and Matt LaFleur will lead their squads into a ballyhooed matchup fitting for L.A. as there will be stars aplenty.
McVay's Rams are coming off a 12-5 campaign in which they advanced to the NFC Championship Game. Thusly, they enter 2026 with a Super Bowl or bust outlook. Los Angeles is rife with talent such as wide receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, running back Kyren Williams , pass rusher Jared Verse and cornerback Trent McDuffie, a prized offseason addition via trade with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The 38-year-old Stafford is coming off his best season statistically, having thrown for an NFL and career-high 46 touchdowns while also leading the league with 4,707 passing yards. Regardless of his age, Stafford possesses some of the best arm talent in the game and so too does his Week 12 counterpart, Love.
Love and the Pack made the playoffs for the third straight season in 2025, but were one-and-done for the second consecutive year, losing five straight to end the year in dismal fashion. As Green Bay looks to bounce back, it will do so with all-word pass rusher Micah Parsons returning from a season-ending ACL tear and having ample time to return the lineup by Week 12, right along with tight end Tucker Kraft. The Packers have reset to an extent with some significant departures, but 2025 first-rounder Matthew Golden should have his time to shine alongside Christian Watson and a returning Jayden Reed, while Edgerrin Cooper is emerging as one of the league's finest young linebacking talents.
From the head coaches, to the offense to the defense, there are countless standouts in this one, as the NFL presents its inaugural Thanksgiving Eve game.
-- Grant Gordon
Thanksgiving Day
- WHERE: Ford Field (Detroit)
- WHEN: 1 p.m. ET | CBS, Paramount+, 麻豆国产
No franchise has as long a history strapping it up on Thanksgiving Day as the Detroit Lions.
When the Lions play for the 86th time on the holiday, they will oppose a division rival for the fourth straight season as they host the Chicago Bears in a marquee Week 12 showdown.
The Bears are the reigning NFC North champions, having halted Detroit鈥檚 two-year title run during their first year under the guidance of head coach Ben Johnson, the Lions鈥� former offensive coordinator. Johnson and the Bears went 0-2 against the Lions, though.
Perhaps it won't be the friendliest holiday gathering when 2024 NFL Draft No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams leads his Bears into the Lions den, where 2016 No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff, star running back Jahmyr Gibbs and standout pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson await.
Though the Lions are coming off an unsettling 9-8 playoff-less season, it was their fourth consecutive winning campaign. Indeed much has changed for the better since head coach Dan Campbell took over in 2021, including a 23-20 victory over Williams and the Bears in the 2024 Thanksgiving Game. Chicago trailed, 23-7, before the Bears rallied, only for a clock management gaffe by Williams and Bears coaches to wrap up the defeat. The next day, head coach Matt Eberflus was fired, opening the door for Johnson鈥檚 eventual arrival. The triumph was the Lions鈥� first on Thanksgiving since 2016.
Following that turkey day travesty for Williams and the Bears, the stage for more rivalry drama is set. Only the Lions and Green Bay Packers have met on Thanksgiving more than Detroit and Chicago. The Bears own the holiday edge, 11-9. Detroit is 38-46-2 all time on Thanksgiving, having first played on the holiday in 1934 and annually since 1945.
The two long-time rivals will battle once more, continuing one of the NFL鈥檚 longest-standing and most celebrated traditions: Thanksgiving Day football in Detroit.
-- Grant Gordon
- WHERE: AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
- WHEN: 4:30 p.m. ET | FOX, FOX One, 麻豆国产
Thanksgiving could get hostile in Dallas in 2026.
The Cowboys will host their bitter NFC East rivals, the Eagles, in a rare holiday matchup between the two.
The NFC East has been dominated by the Eagles and Cowboys over the last five years, with Philadelphia owning a 3-2 lead in division titles over Dallas since the 2021 season. With consecutive NFC East crowns in hand, the Eagles will head to the unfriendly confines of AT&T Stadium as the eastern portion of the United States polishes off its first (or second) Thanksgiving plates, setting up the perfect spectacle in what could prove to be a pivotal game for both teams.
After a 7-9-1 finish to the 2025 season, the Cowboys have invested heavily in their defense in 2026, aiming to create a squad that can compete with the best on both sides of the ball. Philadelphia, meanwhile, is looking to fix an offense that again descended into dysfunction in 2025 with the expectation of protecting its place atop the NFC East throne.
Since 1966, the Cowboys and Eagles have faced off on Thanksgiving just twice. Philadelphia has prevailed both times, winning 27-0 in 1989 and 33-10 in 2014.
-- Nick Shook
- WHERE: Highmark Stadium (Orchard Park, N.Y.)
- WHEN: 8:20 p.m. ET | NBC, Peacock, 麻豆国产
Tabbing the nightcap of the Thanksgiving tripleheader as the main course will hardly be hyperbole or merely a turkey day pun.
One of the decade鈥檚 most storied rivalries will headline the annual holiday festivities when Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs renew their rivalry against the Bills and Josh Allen.
Since 2020, KC and Buffalo have played 10 times, including the playoffs. The Chiefs have famously gone 4-0 in the postseason against the Bills, while Buffalo has posted a 5-1 mark in the regular season, having won five straight. The real winner has always been the viewer, with six of the last seven meetings decided by seven points or less.
Highlighted by the Chiefs鈥� Divisional Round overtime win in the 2021 season standing as an all-time postseason classic, Bills-Chiefs has become a must watch.
Even during Kansas City鈥檚 six-win 2025 showing, the Chiefs were edged by the Bills, 28-21.
The rivalry will definitely have a different feel to it on Thanksgiving night, though.
Super Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker III has joined the Chiefs, who have a remade defensive backfield keyed by veteran free-agent signee Alohi Gilman and first-round cornerback Mansoor Delane, who might just match up with new Bills wideout DJ Moore.
The biggest change will be on the Bills sideline, as Sean McDermott was fired following nine seasons at the helm, replaced by offensive coordinator Joe Brady. Just how the 36-year-old rookie head coach matches wits with 68-year-old future Hall of Famer Andy Reid should be a delightful side dish in this one.
-- Grant Gordon
Black Friday
- WHERE: Acrisure Stadium (Pittsburgh)
- WHEN: 3 p.m. ET | Prime Video
In the fourth installment of the Black Friday game, the Black and Gold will play host to a matchup of AFC playoff squads from a season ago.
Denver has stood firm as a Super Bowl contender with most of its talent returning after journeying to the AFC Championship Game last season. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is a franchise in flux, with Mike McCarthy becoming an NFL rarity -- a head coach for a third team. He replaces Mike Tomlin, who stood tall along the Steelers sidelines for the last 21 seasons before stepping down.
As the quandary of Aaron Rodgers鈥� playing future with Pittsburgh lingers as of this writing, it will have been answered by the day after Thanksgiving, just as Bo Nix will have returned to the Broncos forefront following his postseason-ending ankle injury.
Each of these squads have myriad stars on the defensive side of things with stalwart T.J. Watt the face of a Steelers defense hoping to rebound from an uncharacteristically troublesome season. Denver鈥檚 D appears to be on a continued upswing, having dominated in recent years thanks to Patrick Surtain II and Nik Bonitto, among plenty others.
-- Grant Gordon
