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Does Thanksgiving help playoff hopes?

11/20/2012

Is winning on Thanksgiving Day a litmus test for identifying a playoff team? Maybe it is. Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, there have been 88 games played on the annual “football” holiday. Of that sum, a total of 53 winners from those games, or 59 percent, went on to earn a postseason berth that year.  Twenty-nine of those winners won their division and 23 made the postseason as a Wild Card.

How about the loser in a Thanksgiving Day Game? The teams who came up on the short end on “Turkey Day” made it to the postseason only 29 percent of the time (26 of 88 teams with 14 clubs winning their division).

Is playing on Thanksgiving a good identifier of a Super Bowl team? Unless you are the Dallas Cowboys the answer is a resounding “no.” Since 1970, the Cowboys (1971, 1992, 1993, and 1995) and the Miami Dolphins (1973) are the only teams to play on Thanksgiving and make it to the Super Bowl in the same season.  Dallas and Miami hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy each of those seasons.

Is this bad news for the Houston Texans, Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins, New England Patriots, and New York Jets, who along with Dallas entertain the nation on Thanksgiving Day this year? Perhaps so as history is apparently not on their side. But, we fans see every week during an NFL season, there is a first for everything.

Year Winner Playoff? Loser Playoff?
1970 Detroit - 28 WC Oakland - 14 DIV
1970 Dallas - 16 DIV Green Bay - 3  
1971 Detroit - 28   Kansas City - 21 DIV
1971 *Dallas - 28 DIV Los Angeles 21  
1972 Detroit - 37   NY Jets - 20  
1972 San Francisco - 31 DIV Dallas - 10 WC
1973 Washington - 20 WC Detroit - 0  
1973 *Miami - 14 DIV Dallas - 7 DIV
1974 Denver - 31 DIV Detroit - 27  
1974 Dallas - 24 DIV Washington - 23 WC
1975 Los Angeles - 20 DIV Detroit - 0  
1975 Buffalo - 32   St. Louis - 14 DIV
1976 Detroit - 27   Buffalo - 14  
1976 Dallas - 19 DIV St. Louis - 14  
1977 Chicago - 31 WC Detroit - 14  
1977 Miami - 55   St. Louis - 14  
1978 Detroit - 17   Denver - 14 DIV
1978 Dallas - 37 DIV Washington - 10  
1979 Detroit - 20   Chicago - 0 WC
1979 Houston - 30 WC Dallas - 24 DIV
1981 Detroit - 27   Kansas City - 10  
1981 Dallas - 10 DIV Chicago - 9  
1982 Dallas - 31 STK Cleveland - 14 STK
1982 NY Giants - 13   Detroit - 6  
1983 Dallas - 35 WC St. Louis - 17  
1983 Detroit - 45 DIV Pittsburgh - 3 DIV
1984 Dallas - 20   New England - 17  
1984 Detroit - 31   Green Bay - 28  
1985 Dallas - 35 DIV St. Louis - 17  
1985 Detroit - 31   NY Jets - 20 WC
1986 Seattle - 31   Dallas - 14  
1986 Green Bay - 44   Detroit - 40  
1987 Minnesota - 44 WC Dallas -38  
1987 Kansas City - 27   Detroit - 20  
1988 Houston - 25 WC Dallas - 17  
1988 Minnesota - 23 WC Detroit - 0  
1989 Philadelphia - 27 WC Dallas - 0  
1989 Detroit - 13   Cleveland - 10 DIV
1990 Dallas - 27   Washington - 17 WC
1990 Detroit - 40   Denver - 27  
1991 Dallas - 20 WC Pittsburgh - 10  
1991 Detroit - 16 DIV Chicago - 6 WC
1992 *Dallas - 30 DIV NY Giants - 3  
1992 Houston - 24 WC Detroit - 21  
1993 Miami - 16   *Dallas - 14 DIV
1993 Chicago - 10   Detroit - 6 DIV
1994 Dallas - 42 DIV Green Bay - 31 WC
1994 Detroit - 35 WC Buffalo - 21  
1995 *Dallas - 24 DIV Kansas City - 12 DIV
1995 Detroit - 44 WC Minnesota - 38  
1996 Dallas - 21 DIV Wahington - 10  
1996 Kansas City - 28   Detroit - 24  
1997 Tennessee - 27   Dallas - 14  
1997 Detroit - 55 WC Chicago - 20  
1998 Minnesota - 46 DIV Dallas - 36 WC
1998 Detroit - 19   Pittsburgh - 16  
1999 Dallas - 20 WC Miami - 0 WC
1999 Detroit - 21 WC Chicago - 17  
2000 Minnesota - 27 DIV Dallas - 15  
2000 Detroit - 34   New England - 9  
2001 Green Bay - 29 WC Detroit - 27  
2001 Denver - 26   Dallas - 24  
2002 New England - 20   Detroit - 12  
2002 Dallas - 27   Washington - 20  
2003 Detroit - 22   Green Bay - 14 DIV
2003 Miami - 40   Dallas - 21 WC
2004 Indianapolis - 41 DIV Detroit - 9  
2004 Dallas - 21   Chicago - 7  
2005 Atlanta - 27   Detroit - 7  
2005 Denver - 24 DIV Dallas - 21  
2006 Miami - 27   Detroit - 10  
2006 Dallas - 38 WC Tampa Bay - 10  
2006 Kansas - 19 WC Denver - 10  
2007 Green Bay - 37 DIV Detroit - 26  
2007 Dallas - 34 DIV NY Jets - 3  
2007 Indianapolis - 31 DIV Atlanta - 13  
2008 Tennessee - 47 DIV Detroit - 10  
2008 Dallas - 34   Seattle - 9  
2008 Philadelphia - 48 WC Arizona - 20 DIV
2009 Green Bay - 34 WC Detroit - 12  
2009 Dallas - 24 DIV Oakland - 7  
2009 Denver - 26   NY Giants - 6  
2010 New England - 45 DIV Detroit - 24  
2010 New Orleand - 30 WC Dallas - 27  
2010 NY Jets - 26 WC Cincinnati - 10  
2011 Green Bay - 27 DIV Detroit - 15 WC
2011 Dallas - 20   Miami- 19  
2011 Baltimore - 16 DIV San Francisco - 6 DIV
WC = Wildcard; DIV = Division Winner; STK = Strike-year playoff format; * = Super Bowl champion

Recent Comments
  • Dann Wayne - January 24 2013 03:12 PM

    Correction to 1974: Dallas did not win their division. They finished at 8-6 & failed to qualify for the playoffs.

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