Kansas City Chiefs should have played the Buccaneers on Thanksgiving

The Kansas City Chiefs’ game vs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is must-see television, so why wasn’t it scheduled for Thanksgiving?

Let me set the scene for you, Kansas City Chiefs fans —  It is the morning of Thanksgiving. It is a cool crisp day outside. The smell of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and three different types of pie is wafting through the house. You are home and feel like relaxing after the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and watching some highly competitive and extremely entertaining football…WELL YOU CAN’T because the traditional Thanksgiving Day games stink.

You turn on the TV hoping for competitive, relevant, and entertaining football, and what do you get? Texans at Lions, and after that is Washington at Cowboys, and why? Because tradition mandates the Lions and Cowboys play on Thanksgiving, no matter how irrelevant they are.

Listen, I am really not trying to attack these two teams or their fan bases, I am just pointing out that everyone is home from work, and spending time at home with family, and should not be tortured by mediocre football simply because it is demanded by tradition. I am the furthest thing from a Dallas Cowboys fan, but I will at least attempt to make an allowance in their case, with them being America’s team and all, but the Lions… C’mon.

I understand the Lions have been hosting Thanksgiving football since 1934, and that it is a tradition that spans 86 years now, but just because we have always done something, doesn’t mean we have to keep doing it. The Lions haven’t been relevant in time out of mind (other than a couple of recent years they made it to the playoffs and were quickly dispatched), so what have they done to deserve the honor of being one of only three NFL football games during Thanksgiving?

The Thanksgiving Day game should possibly be approached like an award system. What teams deserve to play on Thanksgiving? What teams will draw the most views (making the most money) from the masses who are all sitting at home digesting turkey legs and stuffing? This year, well what a coincidence, this year that just happens to be the Kansas City Chiefs.

Do I believe that the Kansas City Chiefs should take up hosting a Thanksgiving game from now on?

That is not necessarily what I am saying, although it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine, and perhaps even a case could be made for that very thing.

To me, everyone is at home grazing on delicious food and the TV is on, so shouldn’t the Thanksgiving game be one of great entertainment value? Am I saying the Chiefs have always been the prime cut for entertainment value, of course not, but they are now, and thanks to the extension of Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and Brett Veach, it is almost guaranteed that the Chiefs will be one of the best and most entertaining teams in the league for the foreseeable future.

Indeed, barring injury or some other catastrophe, by the time Turkey Day rolls around, the Chiefs will be one of the teams being talked about for that season’s Super Bowl, and Mahomes will at least be in the MVP conversation if not the front runner. What better day every year to showcase one of the league’s best teams and one of the greatest quarterbacks that football has ever seen than Thanksgiving Day?

Okay, so I did not sell you on the Chiefs becoming a traditional host of the Thanksgiving Day game, then let’s just talk about this year. As it stands right now, the Chiefs are leading their division and it looks very likely that they will become AFC West division champs for the fifth consecutive year.

Not only that, but they are the favorite win this season’s Super Bowl, and have been since the season begun. Their quarterback is currently the front runner for league MVP (which would be his second time receiving the reward in the last three years)  They boast a star-studded cast consisting of Super Bowl LIV MVP as their quarterback with a litany of deadly receivers, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and the best tight end in football Travis Kelce.

Combine that with the brilliance of Reid, and you have a Thanksgiving team that will entertain more than just Chiefs fans. Now, what I have just described above would be entertaining to watch host a turkey game, even if they were hosting the New York Jets, but I had another opponent in mind.

As all of you are no doubt aware, the Chiefs’ next game is in Tampa Bay against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers and it is on at 3:25 PM on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but what if it wasn’t? What if it was the headliner of Thanksgiving Day?

Mahomes vs Brady is always must-watch TV, and what better day to have the young phenomenon, the future of football, versus the GOAT in TB12? It is a well-known fact that the Bucs offense is almost as stacked with talent as the Chiefs themselves.

Indeed when this game is played Sunday afternoon, all eyes will be on it, so why keep it on Sunday where it might compete with other games? Why not give it the prime time slot it so richly deserves on Thanksgiving? OH, that’s right, because the Lions are hosting the Texans, I forgot, because a game like that is only relevant to the fan bases of those two teams, and will be largely ignored by the rest of the masses, or viewed with the mentality that bad football is better than no football.

For the sake of argument, let’s take a brief look at the 2020 Lions. The Detroit Lions are currently 3-7, making them fourth place in their division. Their only wins have come against the Cardinals, the Jags, and the Falcons, with two out of three of those teams being almost as bad as the Lions themselves.

So, with all I have just laid out in front of you, are you seriously telling me that people would rather watch that game and that that matchup is going to generate more views and more money than Patrick Mahomes vs Tom Brady? You could move Texans Lions to the prime time slot at 7:30 PM and give the Chiefs/Bucs the 11:00 AM slot, and it would still generate more.

As I stated and outlined above, a case could be made for the Chiefs to host a Thanksgiving game for the near and possibly distant future. If you don’t buy that, and you find the Chiefs undeserving of such an honor for some crazy reason, then at least concede that we as football fans should not be subjected to yet another forgettable Lions game when there are much more intriguing matchups to be had with the Chiefs vs Bucs at the very top of that list.

Any way you slice it, whether you completely agree with me, or just think that I am a nauseating Chiefs homer (which I am) grab yourself a turkey leg, get you a slice of pie and enjoy the game.