The Kansas City Chiefs are hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Detroit Lions. The Chiefs want a holiday game to call their own and reportedly asked the NFL to make them a staple of the Christmas Day schedule, according to The Athletic.
The Chiefs appear likely to get their wish in 2025 and are expected to play on Christmas Day. The NFL will host three games that day. The first two will reportedly air on Netflix. The third game will reportedly be broadcast on Amazon Prime as part of its “Thursday Night Football” package. Christmas Day falls on a Thursday in 2025.
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Christmas Day games should be pretty familiar to the Chiefs by now. The team played on the holiday each of the past two seasons. Kansas City defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024 and lost to the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas Day in 2023.
NFL Christmas Day schedule
The NFL has gone out of its way to schedule games on Christmas Day since 2020, when the holiday fell on a Friday. The league only had one game on the Christmas Day schedule that season, but it was memorable. New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara scored six touchdowns in a 52-33 rout of the Minnesota Vikings.
The following year, the NFL scheduled two games on Christmas Day, which fell on a Saturday. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Cleveland Browns and the Indianapolis Colts beat the Arizona Cardinals.
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In 2022, Christmas fell on a Sunday. Instead of holding a full slate of games, the NFL opted for three contests. The Packers won their second straight Christmas Day game, defeating the Miami Dolphins. The Los Angeles Rams beat the Denver Broncos and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took down the Cardinals in the other two contests.
The Chiefs got their first Christmas Day game in 2023, when the team fell to the Raiders. The Philadelphia Eagles beat the rival New York Giants, and the Baltimore Ravens came away with a win over the San Francisco 49ers to round out the Christmas games that year.
The Chiefs played again on Christmas in 2024, taking down the Steelers. The Ravens picked up their second straight Christmas victory with a win over the Houston Texans.
While the Christmas Day tradition is relatively new for the league, it’s no stranger to playing games on holidays. The Lions and Dallas Cowboys have become staples of the Thanksgiving slate. The Lions began hosting games on the holiday in 1934. The Cowboys have played on Thanksgiving since 1966.
