One of the best traditions of Thanksgiving is the slate of NFL action that takes place. America is accustomed to the two host teams in the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys, but fans forget the Chicago Bears have the third-most appearances on Thanksgiving as they have played a total of 36 times on the day. When the Bears have played, they have consistently failed to produce on offense, especially over the last 50 years of playing.

Since 1980, The Bears have played 11 times against either the Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, and Green Bay Packers. In those 11 games, the Bears offense has only scored more than 20 points just once. The Bears have scored ten or fewer points in four of those games.

Bears Offenses Have Failed On Thanksgiving

The Bears’ offense has failed to provide any excitement on Thanksgiving, as when they do score, it hasn’t been exciting. In their last nine games dating back to 1991, Chicago has scored only two touchdowns longer than 20 yards. The Longest scoring play came on an Erik Kramer to Ricky Proehl 80-yard touchdown pass in the 1997 loss to the Detroit Lions. The second was a 23-yard screen pass from Jim Miller to Marty Booker two years later in another Bears loss.

Bears Player Haven’t Made An Offensive Impact

There hasn’t been a Bears player to have a significant game on offense as only one Bears’ quarterback has had only one quarterback to pass for over 300 yards as that was Mitchell Trubisky last season in a 24-20 Bears’ victory. Since 1991, there has not been a single Bears’ running back to rush for over 100-yards on Thanksgiving while Proehl and Anthony Miller remain the only receivers to record 100-yard receiving games.

Last season’s Thanksgiving win over the Lions was the team’s best offensive performance as it was the first time a Bears offense score more than two touchdowns on Thanksgiving in the last 50 years. Trubisky also remains the only Bears’ quarterback to throw for three touchdowns on the holiday also.

The 2004 Thanksgiving Game Was The All-Time Worse

To make matters worse, the Bears have had some horrendous offensive performances on Thanksgiving, including the Infamous 2004 game against the Dallas Cowboys. Quarterbacks Craig Krenzel and Jonathan Quinn failed to lead the Bears’ offense as they didn’t score a single point and recorded just 132 passing yards. The two quarterbacks were sacked six times and wildly inaccurate throughout the game.

NFL fans prefer competitive matchups that are high scoring affairs for their Thanksgiving games. Although the Bears have made their last 11 Thanksgiving games competitive as only four games have been decided by seven points or more, unfortunately, there hasn’t been an explosion of points. Given the recent offensive struggles of the 2020 Chicago Bears, it is unlikely the schedule makers will look to grant the team with a 2021 Thanksgiving game.