Does Thanksgiving help playoff hopes?
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 91 games played on the annual “football” holiday. Of that sum, a total of 55 winners from those games, or 60 percent, went on to earn a postseason berth that year. Thirty of those winners won their division and 24 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 91 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.
| Year | Winner | Playoff? | Loser | Playoff? |
| 1970 | Detroit - 28 | WC | Oakland - 14 | DIV |
| Dallas - 16 | DIV | Green Bay - 3 | ||
| 1971 | Detroit - 28 | Kansas City - 21 | DIV | |
| *Dallas - 28 | DIV | Los Angeles 21 | ||
| 1972 | Detroit - 37 | NY Jets - 20 | ||
| San Francisco - 31 | DIV | Dallas - 10 | WC | |
| 1973 | Washington - 20 | WC | Detroit - 0 | |
| *Miami - 14 | DIV | Dallas - 7 | DIV | |
| 1974 | Denver - 31 | WC | Detroit - 27 | |
| Dallas - 24 | Washington - 23 | WC | ||
| 1975 | Los Angeles - 20 | DIV | Detroit - 0 | |
| Buffalo - 32 | St. Louis - 14 | DIV | ||
| 1976 | Detroit - 27 | Buffalo - 14 | ||
| Dallas - 19 | DIV | St. Louis - 14 | ||
| 1977 | Chicago - 31 | WC | Detroit - 14 | |
| Miami - 55 | St. Louis - 14 | |||
| 1978 | Detroit - 17 | Denver - 14 | DIV | |
| Dallas - 37 | DIV | Washington - 10 | ||
| 1979 | Detroit - 20 | Chicago - 0 | WC | |
| Houston - 30 | WC | Dallas - 24 | DIV | |
| 1981 | Detroit - 27 | Kansas City - 10 | ||
| Dallas - 10 | DIV | Chicago - 9 | ||
| 1982 | Dallas - 31 | STK | Cleveland - 14 | STK |
| NY Giants - 13 | Detroit - 6 | |||
| 1983 | Dallas - 35 | WC | St. Louis - 17 | |
| Detroit - 45 | DIV | Pittsburgh - 3 | DIV | |
| 1984 | Dallas - 20 | New England - 17 | ||
| Detroit - 31 | Green Bay - 28 | |||
| 1985 | Dallas - 35 | DIV | St. Louis - 17 | |
| Detroit - 31 | NY Jets - 20 | WC | ||
| 1986 | Seattle - 31 | Dallas - 14 | ||
| Green Bay - 44 | Detroit - 40 | |||
| 1987 | Minnesota - 44 | WC | Dallas -38 | |
| Kansas City - 27 | Detroit - 20 | |||
| 1988 | Houston - 25 | WC | Dallas - 17 | |
| Minnesota - 23 | WC | Detroit - 0 | ||
| 1989 | Philadelphia - 27 | WC | Dallas - 0 | |
| Detroit - 13 | Cleveland - 10 | DIV | ||
| 1990 | Dallas - 27 | Washington - 17 | WC | |
| Detroit - 40 | Denver - 27 | |||
| 1991 | Dallas - 20 | WC | Pittsburgh - 10 | |
| Detroit - 16 | DIV | Chicago - 6 | WC | |
| 1992 | *Dallas - 30 | DIV | NY Giants - 3 | |
| Houston - 24 | WC | Detroit - 21 | ||
| 1993 | Miami - 16 | *Dallas - 14 | DIV | |
| Chicago - 10 | Detroit - 6 | DIV | ||
| 1994 | Dallas - 42 | DIV | Green Bay - 31 | WC |
| Detroit - 35 | WC | Buffalo - 21 | ||
| 1995 | *Dallas - 24 | DIV | Kansas City - 12 | DIV |
| Detroit - 44 | WC | Minnesota - 38 | ||
| 1996 | Dallas - 21 | DIV | Wahington - 10 | |
| Kansas City - 28 | Detroit - 24 | |||
| 1997 | Tennessee - 27 | Dallas - 14 | ||
| Detroit - 55 | WC | Chicago - 20 | ||
| 1998 | Minnesota - 46 | DIV | Dallas - 36 | WC |
| Detroit - 19 | Pittsburgh - 16 | |||
| 1999 | Dallas - 20 | WC | Miami - 0 | WC |
| Detroit - 21 | WC | Chicago - 17 | ||
| 2000 | Minnesota - 27 | DIV | Dallas - 15 | |
| Detroit - 34 | New England - 9 | |||
| 2001 | Green Bay - 29 | WC | Detroit - 27 | |
| Denver - 26 | Dallas - 24 | |||
| 2002 | New England - 20 | Detroit - 12 | ||
| Dallas - 27 | Washington - 20 | |||
| 2003 | Detroit - 22 | Green Bay - 14 | DIV | |
| Miami - 40 | Dallas - 21 | WC | ||
| 2004 | Indianapolis - 41 | DIV | Detroit - 9 | |
| Dallas - 21 | Chicago - 7 | |||
| 2005 | Atlanta - 27 | Detroit - 7 | ||
| Denver - 24 | DIV | Dallas - 21 | ||
| 2006 | Miami - 27 | Detroit - 10 | ||
| Dallas - 38 | WC | Tampa Bay - 10 | ||
| Kansas - 19 | WC | Denver - 10 | ||
| 2007 | Green Bay - 37 | DIV | Detroit - 26 | |
| Dallas - 34 | DIV | NY Jets - 3 | ||
| Indianapolis - 31 | DIV | Atlanta - 13 | ||
| 2008 | Tennessee - 47 | DIV | Detroit - 10 | |
| Dallas - 34 | Seattle - 9 | |||
| Philadelphia - 48 | WC | Arizona - 20 | DIV | |
| 2009 | Green Bay - 34 | WC | Detroit - 12 | |
| Dallas - 24 | DIV | Oakland - 7 | ||
| Denver - 26 | NY Giants - 6 | |||
| 2010 | New England - 45 | DIV | Detroit - 24 | |
| New Orleans - 30 | WC | Dallas - 27 | ||
| NY Jets - 26 | WC | Cincinnati - 10 | ||
| 2011 | Green Bay - 27 | DIV | Detroit - 15 | WC |
| Dallas - 20 | Miami- 19 | |||
| Baltimore - 16 | DIV | San Francisco - 6 | DIV | |
| 2012 | Houston - 34 | DIV | Detroit - 31 | |
| Washington - 38 | DIV | Dallas - 31 | ||
| New England - 49 | DIV | New York Jets - 19 | ||
| WC = Wildcard; DIV = Division Winner; STK = Strike-year playoff format; * = Super Bowl champion | ||||