Christmas Eve and Christmas games in the NFL aren’t that common, but when the schedule fits perfectly into a given season, fans can relish all the usual festivities, as well as some live football action.
With 10 matchups to be decided on Christmas Eve, as well as a slate of three games on the same day, this will bring the total tally to 27 Christmas Day games in NFL history.
When was the first NFL Christmas Day game played?
We have to go back just over 50 years to the 1971-72 season to find the first NFL game on Christmas Day.
After the merger, an opening Divisional Round Playoff doubleheader featuring the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings, as well as the Miami Dolphins against the Kansas City Chiefs, kicked off a sporadic tradition of NFL games falling on December 25th.
The latter also holds the record for the longest game in league history, which had its own complications after families lamented the intrusion of Christmas dinners and holiday traditions.
It even led a state legislator in Kansas to introduce a bill to block the NFL from scheduling future games on Christmas Day, and as a result, no more holiday games were held for the next 17 years.
It wasn’t until 1989 that the first regular season game was played on Christmas Day, but the league has gone to considerable lengths to schedule games in the evening or late afternoon so they don’t coincide with midday family meals. . .
However, NFL schedulers set a precedent in 1994 that if Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, most regular games scheduled for that day are played 24 hours before Christmas Eve, as is the case this year with 10 confrontations. unlike the three on Christmas Day.
Which NFL team has the most wins on Christmas Day?
Below we’ve outlined which side has not only appeared the most on Christmas Day, but also which franchises have scored the most wins.
Team Games Played Won Lost Tied Philadelphia Eagles 2 2 0 0 Pittsburgh Steelers 2 2 0 0 Indianapolis Colts 1 1 0 0 Los Angeles Chargers 1 1 0 0 New Orleans Saints 1 1 0 0 New York Jets 1 1 0 0 Denver Broncos 3 2 1 0 Green Bay Packers 3 2 1 0 Kansas City Chiefs 3 2 1 0 Miami Dolphins 3 2 1 0 Tennessee Titans 4 2 2 0 Baltimore Ravens 2 1 1 0 Chicago Bears 2 1 1 0 Dallas Cowboys 5 2 3 0 Arizona Cardinals 3 1 2 0 Minnesota Vikings 4 1 3 0 Cincinnati Bengals 1 0 1 0 Cleveland Browns 1 0 1 0 Houston Texans 1 0 1 0 San Francisco 49ers 1 0 1 0 Detroit Lions 2 0 2 0 Las Vegas Raiders 2 0 2 0
The Dallas Cowboys, who participated in the first game in history in 1971, have appeared the most times on Christmas Day with five, although they have a negative record having won only two of them, including the 1971 playoff game. -72 against Minnesota.
It was another 20 years or so until the Cowboys made an appearance again at Christmas, where they claimed their second holiday victory in the final game of the regular season against the Cardinals; they would win the Super Bowl that year.
This would be the last time they would emerge victorious on Christmas Day, losing their subsequent three games in 2000, 2006 and most recently another meeting with Arizona in 2010.
The Steelers, Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers and Denver Broncos can all claim the record for most wins when they come out on December 25 of this year, so keep your eyes peeled for anyone who can come out on top.
