The Kansas City Chiefs organization was established in August 1959. For the first three years of its existence, it operated as the Dallas Texans before moving to Kansas City in 1962.
The NFL has played at least one football game on Thanksgiving since 1920, outside of 1941-1944 due to World War II. In 1934, it was determined that the Detroit Lions would always host a home game on Thanksgiving. The Dallas Cowboys later joined this movement and have hosted a home game on Thanksgiving since 1966. In 2006, the NFL added a third annual game to the night of Thanksgiving.
Despite first playing football in 1960, the Chiefs organization has only played on Thanksgiving a total of 10 times. Here is more on how the Chiefs have played on Thanksgiving.
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Chiefs' record on Thanksgiving
The Chiefs have played nine Thanksgiving games and are 5-4 in those games. The Kansas City organization was known as the Dallas Texans before 1962, and under that identity, the team went 0-1 on Thanksgiving.
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How many times have the Chiefs played on Thanksgiving?
The Chiefs have played on Thanksgiving nine times since being established in Kansas City in 1962. They have gone 5-4 in those games.
Kansas City has a limited chance to be featured on Thanksgiving, and trying to figure out the exact math will make your head spin. The NFL started playing three games on Thanksgiving in 2006. The Cowboys and the Lions, who both have played on Thanksgiving every year since 1966 for Dallas and 1934 for Detroit, are always home teams for two of the games.
Both the Cowboys and the Lions are in the NFC, meaning that the Chiefs will play them once every four years. With that metric, Kansas City would play on the road in Dallas or Detroit once every eight years. Then the schedulers have to make sure the game takes place on Thanksgiving. This is why, despite being one of the NFL's older franchises, the Chiefs have played on Thanksgiving only nine times since moving to Kansas City.
The third game that isn't conference-dependent would give the Chiefs another option, but despite the Thanksgiving slate expanding to three teams in 2006, Kansas City hasn't been picked for that matchup outside of the inaugural year.
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When was the last time the Chiefs played on Thanksgiving?
The last time that Kansas City played on Thanksgiving was 2006. This is notable because it was the year that the league decided to play three games on Thursday instead of just two games featuring the Cowboys and the Lions.
The third game wasn't team locked. The Chiefs played the Denver Broncos and won 19-10.
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Chiefs Thanksgiving history
Date Matchup/Result Chiefs Thanksgiving Record
Nov. 24, 1960 Titans def. Texans 41-35 (AFL) 0-1
Nov. 23, 1967 Raiders def. Chiefs 44-22 (AFL) 0-2
Nov. 28, 1968 Chiefs def. Oilers 24-10 (AFL) 1-2
Nov. 27, 1969 Chiefs def. Broncos 31-17 (AFL) 2-2
Nov. 25, 1971 Lions def. Chiefs 32- 21 2-3
Nov. 26, 1981 Lions def. Chiefs 27-10 2-4
Nov. 26, 1987 Chiefs def. Lions 27-20 3-4
Nov. 23, 1995 Cowboys def. Chiefs 24-12 3-5
Nov. 28, 1996 Chiefs def. Lions 28-24 4-5
Nov. 23, 2006 Chiefs def. Broncos 19-10 5-5
Nov. 27, 2025 Chiefs vs. Cowboys TBD
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