Though the Lions are coming off an unsettling 9-8 playoff-less season, it was their fourth consecutive winning campaign. Indeed much has changed for the better since head coach Dan Campbell took over in 2021, including a 23-20 victory over Williams and the Bears in the 2024 Thanksgiving Game. Chicago trailed, 23-7, before the Bears rallied, only for a clock management gaffe by Williams and Bears coaches to wrap up the defeat. The next day, head coach Matt Eberflus was fired, opening the door for Johnson’s eventual arrival. The triumph was the Lions’ first on Thanksgiving since 2016.

Following that turkey day travesty for Williams and the Bears, the stage for more rivalry drama is set.

Only the Lions and Green Bay Packers have met on Thanksgiving more than Detroit and Chicago. The Bears own the holiday edge, 11-9. Detroit is 38-46-2 all time on Thanksgiving, having first played on the holiday in 1934 and annually since 1945.

It was the Bears who played — and defeated — the Lions in the latter’s first-ever Turkey Day tussle, prevailing, 19-16, on Nov. 29, 1934, when Hall of Famer Bill Hewitt caught a 2-yard, game-winning touchdown from Hall of Famer Bronko Nagurski.

More than 90 years later, the two long-time rivals will battle once more, continuing one of the NFL’s longest-standing and most celebrated traditions: Thanksgiving Day football in Detroit.