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Every Year in Chicagoland

The Bears on Thanksgiving: a Detroit tradition, not a Soldier Field one

The Bears' Thanksgiving game is in Detroit, not Soldier Field. Here's how the Lions rivalry started and what to know for Nov. 26.

By HellginOctober 22, 20266 min read

You know the routine. The turkey's in the oven, the relatives are piling up in the living room, and someone puts the Bears on at noon. If you've always pictured that game at Soldier Field, it's a fair guess, but it's wrong. The Bears' Thanksgiving tradition is played in Detroit, against the Lions. That's where it will be again on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2026. Here's how it started, what the rivalry has produced, and what to know before this year's kickoff.

The short answer: Detroit, not the lakefront

The Bears do have a home Thanksgiving history. It's just very old, and it didn't happen at Soldier Field. Chicago's home games on the holiday fell between 1921 and 1933, and they were played at Wrigley Field. The last time the Bears hosted on Thanksgiving is usually given as 1932, against the Chicago Cardinals.

They haven't hosted on the holiday since. For more than 90 years, a Bears Thanksgiving has meant a road trip, and most often that trip goes to Detroit, which has made the holiday its own.

This year is no different. The Bears play the Lions in Week 12 at Ford Field in Detroit. The team's own announcement doesn't mention Soldier Field at all. It calls this the Bears' second Thanksgiving game in three seasons.

So if you grew up thinking of Thanksgiving football as a Chicago thing, you're half right. The Bears are one of the holiday's most familiar guests. They just haven't been the hosts in a very long time.

Where it started: Staleys, Cardinals and Red Grange

The Bears have played on Thanksgiving since their first season. In 1920, the inaugural year, they beat the Chicago Tigers 6-0 on the holiday.

For the next decade or so, Thanksgiving in Chicago football meant a crosstown game. From 1922 through 1933, the Bears and the Chicago Cardinals met on Thanksgiving every year. Back then the city had two NFL teams, and the holiday game between them was a fixture.

The most famous of those games came in 1925. Red Grange, the "Galloping Ghost" and already a national star at Illinois, played his last college game and then made his Bears debut just five days later. That debut was the Thanksgiving game against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. It ended in a 0-0 tie. The score was forgettable, but the day wasn't: Grange's arrival was one of the moments that put the young pro league on the map.

That stretch of Bears-Cardinals holiday games is the closest Chicago has come to a hometown Thanksgiving tradition. When it ended in the early 1930s, the Bears' holiday story shifted east, to a new opponent who would become the main act.

The Lions rivalry

The Bears and Lions first met on Thanksgiving in 1934, and Chicago won 19-16. That started the most familiar holiday matchup in Bears history. Only the Lions and Packers have met more often on Thanksgiving.

A few games stand out:

1980: the overtime kickoff. With time running out, quarterback Vince Evans ran in a 4-yard touchdown as the clock expired, tying the game 17-17. Then Dave Williams took the overtime kickoff back 95 yards for a 23-17 Bears win. The game was over almost before it went to overtime.
1993: a defensive grind. The Bears beat the Lions 10-6, the kind of low-scoring, hard-hitting game Chicago fans think of as Bears football.
1997: the one to forget. At the Pontiac Silverdome, the Lions won 55-20, the Bears' most lopsided Thanksgiving loss ever. Barry Sanders ran for 167 yards and three touchdowns.
2018: a win at Ford Field. The Bears won 23-16 in Detroit.
2024: the game that cost a coach his job. The Lions led 23-7, and the Bears rallied to 23-20 before a clock-management mistake let the final seconds run out. Matt Eberflus was fired the next day. Strangely, it was also Detroit's first Thanksgiving win since 2016.

That 2024 game still stings for a lot of fans, and it's the reason this year's trip carries some extra weight.

The numbers

Sources don't always agree on Thanksgiving records, so it's worth knowing who's counting.

Bears vs. Lions on Thanksgiving: NFL.com has Chicago leading the holiday series 11-9.
Bears' all-time Thanksgiving wins: The team puts it at 20, the third-most in the NFL and the most of any team that doesn't play every Thanksgiving.
Recent form: The Bears say they've won four of their last five Thanksgiving appearances.
The Lions overall: NFL.com lists Detroit at 38-46-2 all-time on the holiday. The team that hosts every year has lost more Thanksgiving games than it has won.

Treat the full Bears record (wins, losses and ties) loosely. Earlier tallies from the team and from NBC Chicago differed by a game here and there, and older games, ties and the crosstown Cardinals years make an exact count tricky. "About 20 wins" is the safe figure, and it's still a lot of turkey-day victories for a team that's almost always the visitor.

Thanksgiving 2026: what to know

When: Thursday, Nov. 26, 2026, kickoff at noon Central (1 p.m. Eastern).
Where: Ford Field, Detroit.
How to watch: CBS. NFL.com says it will also stream on Paramount+ and NFL+.
Billing: It opens the NFL's Thanksgiving tripleheader, so it's the first game of the day.

The story lines are good ones. Bears coach Ben Johnson used to be Detroit's offensive coordinator, and he's 0-2 against his old team so far. The roles have also flipped since that 2024 loss. The Bears come in as the reigning NFC North champions, while the Lions went 9-8 last season and missed the playoffs. With Halloween behind you and the calendar turning to November, this one should feel like a real division game, not just background noise while the potatoes get mashed.

If you want the lakefront holiday game: the Bears play the Packers on Christmas Day, and Fox 32 reports that game is at Soldier Field. Treat that as reported for now until the team or the league confirms the location, but if it holds, Chicago gets its holiday game at home after all, just a month later.

Sources (6)

Photo: Military service members honored during Chicago bears game by 416thTEC, Public Domain.