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Packers win over Lions breaks NFL Thanksgiving Day record

Meby: Nick Geddes12/03/25NickGeddesNews

The Dallas Cowboys-Kansas City Chiefs late afternoon game on Thanksgiving Day shattered the NFL regular season viewership record. But before that game ever kicked off, the early afternoon game between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions broke the record first.

FOX Sports announced Wednesday that 47.7 million viewers watched the Packers’ 31-24 win over the Lions on FOX. Viewership peaked at 57.957 million viewers. It topped the previous record set on Thanksgiving in 2022, when 42 million viewers watched the Cowboys and New York Giants on FOX. Additionally, it’s the most-watched early Thanksgiving game on record.

But as this game came to an end, the Cowboys-Chiefs game began. According to CBS Sports, 57.2 million viewers watched the Cowboys’ 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on CBS. Viewership peaked with more than 61 million viewers.

The Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce and carrying the Taylor Swift fanbase behind them, were the most-watched team in the league in 2024. The Cowboys are always near the top of that list. You can say the NFL knew what it was doing here, pitting these two teams against each other on Thanksgiving when a good chunk of the country is focused on food and football.

Both games broke a single-game regular season viewership record. You can guarantee the league is already thinking about next Thanksgiving and which matchups could attract a similar or even better audience.

Packers topple Lions on Thanksgiving Day

For the Packers, this was a big victory. They’re now riding a three-game winning streak and are winners of six of their last eight.

“I’m proud of our guys but we’ve got to keep building on this,” head coach Matt LaFleur said. “We can’t think we’ve arrived by any stretch, because as soon as you do that you get beat. I still don’t think we’re where we want to get to. I just don’t think you can ever be satisfied. You just have to put the work in… there’s no substitute for the work.

“Thankfully we’ve got a bunch of guys that embrace the challenges. There are no shortcuts in this league, and you just have to keep fighting.”