Lions most memorable Thanksgivings: Barry Sanders runs wild in 1995, 1997

June 2024 · 7 minute read

Editor’s note: Throughout the month of November, we remember some of the best NFL, college football and sports culture occasions around the Thanksgiving holiday in Thanksgiving Sports Moments.

The Athletic has live coverage of Lions vs Packers in the first NFL Thanksgiving game.

The Detroit Lions, alongside the Dallas Cowboys, are one of two NFL teams to play on Thanksgiving every year.

Advertisement

In many ways, it’s a showcase event for a franchise that isn’t always a featured product. Granted, there hasn’t always been much to feature, but nevertheless, the Lions have had their moments over the course of their Turkey Day history.

Here are five of their best and brightest.

5. Bulletin-board material sparks Lions

No, Aaron Rodgers didn’t play, thanks to a broken collarbone. No, neither team was particularly good at the time. But some pregame bulletin-board material, courtesy of Green Bay guard Josh Sitton, set the tone for the Lions-Packers Thanksgiving game in 2013 regardless.

“They go after quarterbacks,” Sitton told Milwaukee’s Sports Radio 1250 10 years ago. “Their entire defense takes cheap shots all the time. That’s what they do, that’s who they are. They’re a bunch of dirtbags or scumbags. I mean, that’s just how they play, that’s how they’re coached. That starts with their frickin’ coach.”

More than a few choice words from Sitton. Back then, one of the faces of the franchise was Ndamukong Suh — known for chalking up penalties and fines for his on-field play. In fact, earlier in the season, Suh was flagged for tripping Rodgers when the Lions and Packers met in Week 5. But the Lions pushed back on this notion.

Jim Schwartz, your response?

“I’ve been around too long to take that bait,” the Lions coach told Detroit’s 97.1 The Ticket. “The game’s going to be played by players on the field, and it’s going to be played with actions, not with words.”

The Lions let their play do the talking and pummeled the Matt Flynn-led Packers 40-10. Matthew Stafford threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns, Reggie Bush ran for 117 yards and a touchdown of his own and Schwartz’s defense held the Packers to 126 yards of offense. The Lions improved to 7-5 after taking down a division rival.

Advertisement

However, the Lions would go on to lose their next four games. Schwartz was fired at the end of the season, and the Lions would hire Jim Caldwell to replace him.

Scott Mitchell and the Lions’ offense celebrate a play vs. the Vikings on Nov. 23, 1995. (Getty Images)

4. Shootout win versus Vikings

If you like offense, you liked this one. If you don’t like your heart rate fluctuating over the course of three hours, this one wasn’t for you.

The Lions and Vikings were two of the highest-scoring offenses in the NFL during the 1995 season. The Lions, powered by running back Barry Sanders, wide receiver Herman Moore and quarterback Scott Mitchell averaged 27.2 points on offense, good for second in the league. The Vikings, spearheaded by quarterback Warren Moon and wide receiver Cris Carter, ranked fourth at 25.8. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise to see the shootout that unfolded at the Silverdome on Nov. 23, 1995.

Ten touchdowns. A combined 919 yards of offense. Optional defense. After a game in which two offensive machines traded blows, the Lions emerged victorious. Mitchell threw for 410 yards and four touchdowns. Three receivers — Brett Perriman (153 yards and two touchdowns), Moore (127 yards and a score) and Johnnie Morton (102 yards and a TD) — topped the 100-yard mark. And Sanders, to the surprise of no one, rushed 24 times for 138 yards and a touchdown of his own.

Final: Lions 44, Vikings 38.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Barry Sanders answers retirement questions and more in new Amazon Prime documentary

3. Barry Sanders runs up the score in ’97

You wouldn’t know it by the final score, but at one point, the Lions found themselves trailing the lowly 2-10 Chicago Bears 17-3 on Thanksgiving in 1997. Amid a playoff race, it was the kind of start that can ruin a team’s holiday. And season.

Then, Detroit outscored Chicago 52-3 the rest of the way, winning 55-20. All was forgiven.

Sanders had a lot to do with that turnaround. The Hall of Fame running back rushed for 167 yards and three touchdowns on just 19 attempts. Sanders’ performance versus the Bears helped him top the 1,500-yard mark for the fifth time in his career and the 100-yard mark for the 11th consecutive game, en route to a 2,000-yard season. Sanders would go on to win the 1997 NFL MVP award.

The @Lions' 10 BEST Thanksgiving Plays!
Featuring: Plenty of @barrysanders 🙌

📺: #HOUvsDET — Thursday 12:30PM ET on CBS
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app pic.twitter.com/Tr1RDAiInP

— NFL (@NFL) November 25, 2020

Elsewhere, Mitchell threw for 282 yards and two touchdowns, Morton and Moore had a combined 13 receptions, 209 receiving yards and both scores from Mitchell. Detroit’s defense tightened up to limit the Bears to a field goal after the early deficit.

Advertisement

The Lions’ win was their third in a row, and the team would go on to win five of its final six games overall. Detroit ultimately earned the No. 5 seed in the NFC, eventually losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card game.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

NFL 100: At No. 27, Barry Sanders' big runs stunned even his Lions O-linemen

2. The coin toss game

The Lions have, um, a complicated relationship with NFL officiating. But the zebras had their back on Nov. 26, 1998.

Playing the Pittsburgh Steelers in a game where regulation wasn’t enough to settle it, captains from these two teams met at midfield for a coin toss that would ultimately decide the outcome, and prove controversial in the process.

Referee Phil Luckett asked the visiting team, the Steelers, who would be making the call. RB Jerome Bettis was on it, and was told by Luckett to choose heads or tails in the air.

“Tails,” Bettis says.

“Heads is the call,” Luckett said on the mic.

“I said tails,” Bettis said, correcting Luckett.

“He said heads,” Luckett said, firmly. “It is a tails.”

Bettis and Steelers defensive back Carnell Lake pleaded with Luckett to no avail. Head coach Bill Cowher wanted an explanation. Pittsburgh’s sideline was up in arms. The game marched on regardless.

In the end, a 42-yard Jason Hanson field goal proved to be the difference, propelling the Lions to an overtime win and a happy Thanksgiving. Nothing else to see here.

1. Spoiling the perfect Packers season

There’s nothing Lions fans love more than beating the Packers. Well, except maybe beating the undefeated Packers.

That’s what happened in 1962. Green Bay, a perfect 10-0 at the time, traveled to Detroit fully expecting to keep the good times rolling. The Packers were talked about as one the greatest football teams ever assembled. They sure didn’t look the part against the Lions.

Perhaps motivated by a narrow 9-7 loss to the Packers earlier in the season, the Lions came to play and weren’t fazed by the aura of an unbeaten Packers team. Quarterback Milt Plum threw two touchdowns (and connected on a 47-yard field goal), the Detroit defense sacked Bart Starr 11 times and the Lions took down the Packers 26-14, ruining an undefeated season in the process.

Advertisement

The Packers would go on to win the 1962 NFL Championship. But even decades after the fact, players from that team were baffled by their performance on Thanksgiving. It was their only blemish amid their title run.

“It was hard to understand how we could get beaten that badly,” former Packers offensive lineman Jerry Kramer said in a 1998 interview.

Coincidentally, the current Lions share something in common with that 1962 squad. They’re the first Lions team to start a season 8-2 since that year.

They’ll look to make it 9-2 against this same Packers franchise on Thursday.

(Top photo: Jeff Kowalsky / AFP via Getty Images)

This series is part of a partnership with Accenture.

The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57lGlvaXBjaXxzfJFsZmppX2eAcLDEramooaRiuaq7zaxkraCRo7i0s8ivoKefXZyurrHSZpmaqqKuerStzZ2cq6tf