We recently had a question asked by Kristine, who appears to be a Detroit Lions fan, about the Lions recent success in their Thanksgiving Day games:

“My friend and I watched this year’s Detroit Turkey Day Game. After the game was over, we were trying to remember the last time the Lion’s won a game on Thanksgiving. And much to my surprise I couldn’t remember the Lion’s winning on Thanksgiving after The Great ‘ Barry Sanders’ retired. Do you know the last game won by Detoit in Detroit?”

We did some research, but expanded it to look at Detroit’s success in Thanksgiving Day games since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970.

So, to answer the original question regarding the Detroit Lions success in Thanksgiving Day games since Barry Sanders retired (1998):

The last time the Lions won on Thanksgiving was 2003 against the Packers, and they’ve won three times since Barry Sanders retired.

With Barry Sanders on the roster (1989-1998) the Detroit Lions were 7-3 in games played on Thanksgiving.

In games played on Thanksgiving since Barry Sanders retired (1999-2007) the Detroit Lions are 3-6.

Detroit’s Turkey Day Win-Loss Record By Decade:
1970’s 6-4
1980’s 5-5
1990’s 7-3
2000’s 2-6

In the 38 games that the Lions have played on Thanksgiving Day since 1970, their record is 20-18… just over .500 - If you throw out their record since 2000, they were a very respectable 19-12.

Thanks for the great question!

A quick answer to a question we had asked of us… Who is the oldest coach in the NFL?

The oldest coach in the NFL right now is Joe Gibbs of the Washington Redskins who turned 67 years old this year.

Second oldest on that list is the New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin at 61.

The third oldest coach in the NFL is Romeo Crennel (60 years old) of the Cleveland Browns who is only three days older than #4 on the list: Wade Phillips of the Dallas Cowboys.

An interesting thing, the NFL like most of the other sports is looked at as a retread league in terms of coaching. Most say that it seems like the same guys keep getting hired as coaches over and over. Two of the four oldest coaches in the league have only been head coach of one team: Crennel with the Browns and Gibbs with the Redskins (although this is Gibbs’ second go-around with Washington).

All this, of course, begs the question: Who is the youngest coach in the NFL?

Lane Kiffin of the Oakland Raiders who is 32 years old… second youngest would be the New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini at 36 years old.

All-American Football Conference – Early Challenger To The NFL

In modern times it is hard to imagine a professional football league that could come along and compete with the National Football League. But, life for the NFL has not always been this way. In the 1980’s the USFL was there, in the 1970’s the WFL tried, and in the 1960’s the AFL not only tried to compete but were successful. But, long before that there was the All-American Football Conference.

The AAFC began in 1946 and like most alternative football leagues was made up of owners who had been denied an opportunity to buy an existing NFL franchise or denied the opportunity of starting an NFL expansion franchise. The NFL at the time had just survived the World War II years. Some teams had merged during the war years, some teams had folded, and all teams had struggled with the wartime rations and loss of players to the war effort. The owners in the AAFC were, for the most part, more established and wealthier than their NFL counterparts.

The AAFC’s biggest downfall was the imbalance in team performance. There were very good teams (Cleveland, San Francisco, New York) and there were very bad teams (Brooklyn, Miami, Chicago), but there really wasn’t any in-between teams. During the league’s four year existence, Cleveland won the championship each season.

Attendance for the AAFC was good to begin with but did steadily decline as the years went on. The owners in the AAFC made a good effort of signing the best college football players before the NFL could get them; this also had the effect of driving up players’ salaries.

In the end, though there were successful teams, the owners as a whole could not keep the AAFC afloat and the league folded. Upon folding, three teams from the AAFC were allowed membership in the NFL. The Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, and Baltimore Colts all made the jump to play the 1950 season as NFL teams. In fact, the Cleveland Browns won the NFL Championship in their first year as a member in 1950. The 49ers would also go on to much success in the NFL after being one of the better teams in the AAFC. The Colts, however, wouldn’t experience the same success and three years later would cease operations. When Baltimore was given an NFL franchise years later, the new owners decided to revive the old Baltimore Colts name but the current franchise has no relation to the 1940’s AAFC franchise.

The AAFC wasn’t a true success in that it did go out of business and did not force a merger with the NFL. But, for some of the teams it proved to be the launching pad to their admittance to the NFL and future success.