Thanksgiving Football Trivia
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57 free Thanksgiving Football trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
52 free Thanksgiving Football trivia questions with answers. Thanksgiving is the biggest sports day on the American calendar, and this Thanksgiving sports trivia quiz covers all of it. The football half runs from Yale and Princeton in 1876 to the Lions' first holiday game in 1934, the Cowboys joining in 1966, Clint Longley, Leon Lett in the snow, the Bettis coin toss, the Butt Fumble, the turducken drumstick and the record-setting 2025 Chiefs-Cowboys audience, plus the college rivalries like the Egg Bowl and Texas versus Texas A&M. The rest of the day gets its due too: the 1896 Buffalo Turkey Trot and the million-plus people who run one every year, the Skins Game golf that filled Thanksgiving weekend for 25 years, the Turkey Night Grand Prix midget race in Southern California, and the college basketball tournaments in Maui and the Bahamas. Every answer is checked against Wikipedia and league records, and each question shows its source once you answer, so you can settle the argument at the table.
30 of 57 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which Ohio city was the NFL founded in 1920, weeks before its first Thanksgiving games?
Canton
Canton: team representatives met in a car showroom there in 1920 and formed the American Professional Football Association, which played its first Thanksgiving games ten weeks later and became the NFL in 1922.
Q 02Since 2022, the NFL's Thanksgiving games have carried the name of which coach turned broadcaster?
John Madden
John Madden called 20 Thanksgiving games for CBS and Fox, so after his death in December 2021 the league renamed its holiday slate the John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration, with a Madden Player of the Game in each one.
Q 03Which business owned by Lions owner George Richards put the 1934 Thanksgiving game before a national audience?
A radio station
A radio station: Richards owned WJR, an NBC affiliate, and talked the network into carrying the game on 94 stations coast to coast, which helped a new team that had struggled for crowds sell out and turn fans away.
Q 04Whom did the Lions host in their first Thanksgiving game in 1934?
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears, unbeaten at 11-0, won 19-16 in front of a sellout crowd while thousands more were turned away at the gate; that success persuaded the Lions to make the holiday game an annual event.
Q 05Which president moved Thanksgiving a week earlier to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, upending football's holiday schedules?
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in 1939 to help retailers; many states refused, so until Congress fixed the date in 1941 the country kept two Thanksgivings, throwing football's long-scheduled holiday games into confusion.
Q 06Which stadium hosted the Cowboys' first Thanksgiving game in 1966, before Texas Stadium opened?
Cotton Bowl
Cotton Bowl: 80,259 came to watch the Cowboys beat Cleveland 26-14 on 24 November 1966, a club record at a time when Thursday games were rare and a big holiday gate was far from certain.
Q 07Which Cowboys boss volunteered the team as host when the NFL added a second Thanksgiving game in 1966?
Tex Schramm
Tex Schramm, the general manager, volunteered because national television could sell a young team that had never had a winning season; that year the Cowboys went 10-3-1 and reached the NFL title game.
Q 08Which team replaced Dallas as Thanksgiving host in 1975 and 1977?
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals were Commissioner Pete Rozelle's choice to take over from Dallas, but they lost their two holiday home games 32-14 and 55-14, and the Cowboys got the date back for good in 1978.
Q 09Which team hosted the first Thanksgiving night game when the NFL added a third holiday fixture in 2006?
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs beat Denver 19-10 at Arrowhead Stadium on 23 November 2006; the night game was never given a permanent host, so unlike the two afternoon dates it moves from team to team.
Q 10The Thanksgiving MVP drumstick tradition began in 1989 with which player?
Reggie White
Reggie White, the Eagles' defensive end, got the first turkey leg after Philadelphia's 27-0 win at Dallas in 1989; later broadcasts featured birds with extra drumsticks so that a whole offensive line could share.
Q 11Which Cajun chef trademarked the name of the turducken that became a broadcast-booth staple?
Paul Prudhomme
Paul Prudhomme, the New Orleans chef, trademarked the name in 1986, though Louisiana butchers also claim to have invented the dish; it reached football's broadcast booth in the 1990s.
Q 12Which unknown Cowboys backup replaced Staubach in 1974 and hit Drew Pearson to beat Washington 24-23?
Clint Longley
Clint Longley came on when Staubach was knocked out of the game and threw a 50-yard touchdown to Pearson late in the fourth quarter; 'the Mad Bomber' later punched Staubach in training camp and was traded to San Diego.
Q 13Which running back ran for a then-record 273 yards against the Lions on Thanksgiving 1976, yet lost?
Q 21After the 1998 Thanksgiving coin-toss controversy, when did the NFL rule a captain must call?
Before the flip
Before the flip: after the uproar the league had captains state heads or tails before the coin goes up, with the referee confirming the choice aloud, so that a call made in mid-air can never be disputed again.
Q 22Which referee awarded the Lions the disputed 1998 Thanksgiving overtime toss on live television?
Phil Luckett
Phil Luckett said the captain began 'hea-' before switching to 'tails', so he took the first call and gave the Lions the ball; enhanced audio later bore him out, though fans still voted it among the worst calls ever.
Q 23Which Lions defensive tackle was ejected for stomping on a Packers lineman's arm on Thanksgiving 2011?
O.J. Simpson
O.J. Simpson carried 29 times for 273 yards and two touchdowns, but his quarterback completed only 4 of 21 passes for 29 yards and the Lions won 27-14.
Q 14Which Bears coach was fired a day after his team let the clock run out at Detroit on Thanksgiving 2024?
Matt Eberflus
Matt Eberflus kept a timeout in his pocket as the final seconds drained away in a 23-20 loss, and the club dismissed him the next day, the first time the franchise had fired a head coach in mid-season.
Q 15Which team was the Lions' Thanksgiving opponent every year from 1951 through 1963?
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers were the Lions' holiday guests for thirteen straight years, 1951 to 1963, ending with a 13-13 tie; the best-remembered game, a 26-14 defeat in 1962, cost the eventual champions a perfect season.
Q 16Whose illegal challenge flag let Justin Forsett's 81-yard touchdown run stand on Thanksgiving 2012?
Jim Schwartz
Jim Schwartz, the Lions' head coach, threw his challenge flag even though scoring plays were reviewed automatically; the penalty cancelled the review, so Forsett's run, on which he was clearly down, stood, and Houston won 34-31 in overtime.
Q 17In the 1989 'Bounty Bowl', the Eagles were accused of putting a bounty on which Cowboys player?
The kicker
The kicker, Luis Zendejas, had been cut by Philadelphia weeks earlier; Jimmy Johnson claimed Buddy Ryan's Eagles put a bounty on him after he was flattened on a kickoff, and Ryan mocked the charge as Dallas lost 27-0.
Q 18How did Leon Lett turn a blocked field goal into a Dolphins win in the 1993 snow game at Texas Stadium?
Touching the live ball
Touching the live ball was the blunder: Jimmie Jones had blocked Pete Stoyanovich's kick and Dallas only had to leave it alone, but Lett slid into it, the Dolphins recovered at the 1 and Stoyanovich won it 16-14 from 19 yards.
Q 19Which rookie receiver caught three passes, all long touchdowns, against Dallas on Thanksgiving 1998?
Randy Moss
Randy Moss turned three catches into 163 yards and three touchdowns of more than 50 yards each in a 46-36 Vikings win, against a Dallas team that had passed on him in that year's draft.
Q 20Which Steelers player called the botched overtime coin toss on Thanksgiving 1998?
Jerome Bettis
Jerome Bettis, 'The Bus', insisted he called tails, but the referee announced heads; the Lions took the ball, drove into range, and Jason Hanson's field goal won it 19-16.
Ndamukong Suh
Ndamukong Suh shoved Evan Dietrich-Smith's helmet into the turf and stamped on his arm after the whistle; the ejection handed the visitors a first down and a quick touchdown, and the league banned him for two games.
Q 24Which Jets quarterback ran face-first into his own lineman in the 2012 Thanksgiving blunder known as the Butt Fumble?
Mark Sanchez
Mark Sanchez missed a handoff, scrambled and slid into the backside of guard Brandon Moore; the ball popped loose and Steve Gregory ran it in, one of three New England touchdowns in 52 seconds.
Q 25Which ESPN show's viewers voted the Butt Fumble 'Worst of the Worst' 40 weeks running?
SportsCenter
SportsCenter ran the vote in its Friday 'Not Top 10' blooper reel, and nothing could unseat the play for nearly ten months, so in September 2013 the producers retired it to give other blunders a chance.
Q 26In 2008, the 0-11 Lions lost 47-10 on Thanksgiving to which 10-1 team?
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans led 35-10 by half-time, amid calls to take the holiday game away from the Lions; the league kept it, and that team went on to lose all 16 games, a first for the NFL.
Q 27On which day of the week was the COVID-postponed 2020 Thanksgiving Ravens–Steelers game eventually played?
Wednesday
Wednesday 2 December was the third new date: a COVID-19 outbreak among the Ravens pushed the game from Thursday to Sunday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday afternoon, and Pittsburgh won 19-14 with Baltimore's Lamar Jackson missing.
Q 28Which channel first carried the Thanksgiving prime-time game when it was introduced?
NFL Network
NFL Network got the new night game in 2006 as the opener of the league's own prime-time package, but it then reached well under half of American TV homes, so most fans could not watch; a broadcast network took the game over in 2012.
Q 29Which two colleges began an annual Thanksgiving Day football game in 1876?
Yale and Princeton
Yale and Princeton met in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Thanksgiving 1876 and kept the date; when college football's championship game was fixed for the holiday in New York in the 1880s, Thanksgiving became the sport's showcase.
Q 30Which coach's Chicago team ended Michigan's 56-game unbeaten run 2-0 on Thanksgiving 1905?
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg's Chicago Maroons won 2-0 on a safety when Michigan's Denny Clark was tackled in his own end zone, ending a run of 56 games without defeat under Fielding Yost that stretched back to 1901.