It's thanks, but no thanks
Why not Niners vs. Cowboys on turkey day? It's complicated
The NFL is almost as much a tradition on Thanksgiving Day as turkey and stuffing.
It always includes the Dallas Cowboys, but seldom the 49ers — and the two iconic franchises haven't played each other on this holiday for 50 years.
Matchups this Thanksgiving include Buffalo at Detroit at 9:30 a.m. (PST), the New York Giants at Dallas at 1:30 p.m. and New England at Minnesota at 5:20 p.m. as the food coma sets in.
The 49ers (6-4) will wait until Sunday to host the New Orleans Saints (4-7) at Levi's Stadium.
There have been some memorable playoff games, including last year's 23-17 wild-card win by the 49ers over the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. There have been NFC Championship games between the two teams following the 1971, 1972, 1981, 1992, 1993 and 1994 seasons which were seismic events in the history of both franchises, not to mention must-watch TV in a national sense.
Yet you have to go all the way back to Nov. 23, 1972 for a 49ers-Cowboys game on turkey day. Texas Stadium, with its distinctive hole cut in the roof, had opened in October of the previous season. The 49ers beat the Cowboys and legendary coach Tom Landry, 31-10, under coach Dick Nolan.
Outside linebacker Skip Vanderbundt had the game of his life for the 49ers with a 21-yard interception return for a touchdown and a 73-yard run with a recovered fumble for another touchdown.
Ranked first and fifth by Forbes Magazine as the most valuable franchises in the NFL, Dallas and San Francisco haven't played on Thanksgiving Day in any of the 12 regular-season matchups the Cowboys have hosted since then.
First, a little history. The Lions have played on Thanksgiving Day every year since 1934 and the Cowboys since 1966, six years after the inception of the franchise. Other than 1975 and 1977, when the St Louis Cardinals replaced Dallas on Thanksgiving, the NFL hasn't broken tradition.
Some owners protested the exclusivity of Dallas and Detroit.
A third Thanksgiving Day game was added in 2006 — a compromise that allowed one more team to host a holiday game in addition to the Cowboys and Lions.
The fact that the Kansas City Chiefs were the first team other than Dallas and Detroit to host a Thanksgiving Day game in 2006 was no accident, according to Mike North, an NFL official involved in scheduling and planning.
It was the debut telecast for the NFL Network.
“There were other teams saying they'd like to play on Thanksgiving,” North told the Sports Business Journal in 2021. “Kansas City was the most vocal. They asked, `how do we get in the rotation?'”
The 49ers have played in two of the evening games that follow Detroit and Dallas and lost both, falling 16-6 to the Baltimore Ravens in 2011 and 19-3 to the Seattle Seahawks in 2014.
The Baltimore game was notable because it pitted the Harbaugh brothers, Jim and John, against each other. The Seattle game was memorable for the sight of future 49er Richard Sherman eating a turkey leg on the field after a Seahawks win.
According to a source familiar with NFL scheduling, not all teams want to play on Thanksgiving. Coaches and players prefer a more normal routine in terms of recovery and preparation and travel as well as being able to spend the holiday at home with family.
The 49ers weren't pleased about the Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh game given that they played at home on Sunday against Arizona and crossed two time zones to meet the Ravens in Baltimore on Thanksgiving.
In all, the 49ers have played only two other games on Thanksgiving other than 2014 and 2011 and 1972 — a 24-24 tie with Dallas in 1969 and a 41-14 win over Detroit in 1966.