What Nfl Teams Play Christmas Day 2016: The National Football League (NFL) rarely has games on December 25, which is Christmas Day. There is no set plan for Christmas Day games, but Thanksgiving Day games always happen on a Thursday. Christmas could happen any day of the week. The NFL had two Divisional Playoff games on Christmas Day in 1971, but the season was over after fourteen weeks. The league didn’t book any more Christmas Day games until 1989, though, because of the bad response.
Since then, the NFL has sometimes added games on Christmas Day and Christmas Eve to its schedule. These games usually happen around weeks 16 or 17. The NFL had held 30 Christmas Day games, all of which were shown across the country, by the end of the 2023 season. Interestingly, there were two games on Christmas Day from 2004 to 2006, from 2016 to 2017, and until 2021. In 2022 and 2023, three games were planned.
Before the AFL and NFL merged in 1970, the NFL Championship Game was held on a Sunday, two weeks after the end of the regular season, in the middle of December. The title game was moved to Monday, December 26, in case Sunday fell on December 25, Christmas Day. The 1955 and 1960 title games were both moved to different dates.
The NFL on Christmas
Five mistakes by the Cowboys’ defense made it clear that Dallas would win, which made a big difference. At halfway, Dallas had a 6-3 lead. In the third quarter, they added to their lead with two more scoring plays. Roger Staubach threw a touchdown to Bob Hayes from 9 yards out, and Duane Thomas ran for a touchdown from 13 yards out.
There were a lot of back-and-forth plays between the Dolphins and the AFC Divisional Playoff Game of 1971. The Dolphins won. At the end of the NFL’s longest game, Garo Yepremian made a 37-yard field goal to give the Dolphins the win. During the playoffs, Chiefs wide receiver Ed Podolak had an amazing game, gaining 350 yards across all sources.
Rich Karlis was very important to Minnesota’s win on Monday Night Football Week 16. In the first half, he made five field goals. With this win, the Vikings not only won the NFC Central Division but also sent the Bengals out of the playoffs. Chris Doleman had three of Minnesota’s six sacks during the game, showing how strong the defense was.
The defense was strong, which was a surprise since it was the second-to-last weekend of the regular season, and the league’s top scorers were playing each other. This was the eleventh straight game win for the Oilers, ending the 49ers’ franchise-record 13-game home winning streak.
NFL Christmas Day schedule 2016: Start times, TV schedule, and live stream for NFL Week 16
The NFL moved most of its games from Sunday to Saturday so that there would be less schedule conflict around Christmas. Still, there are a few important AFC games that stand out, making the holiday season feel joyful. Who wins the AFC North might depend on Pittsburgh’s game against their biggest foe, Baltimore. To get back at the Ravens for losing in Maryland when Ben Roethlisberger was limited, the Steelers need to win on Sunday. They also want to win their second division title in three years.
If the Baltimore Ravens beat the Bengals, who are having a bad season, they would be one win away from going back to the playoffs. With five straight wins, the Steelers are now one of the best teams in the league. They had a rough start, going 4-5. They’ll be in the playoffs for the third year in a row, thanks to this run. They’ll also be the best team in the North, which they haven’t been since 1998. When quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown, and All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell played together in 2016, they turned a defense-first team into an offensive force.
NFL throws huge Christmas curveball on 2016 regular-season schedule
If Santa is a little late this year with his gifts, it should be the NFL’s fault since Santa would rather play football on Christmas Eve than give gifts. In 2016, Christmas fell on a Sunday, so the NFL changed its scheduling so that 28 of its 32 teams would have the day off. On Thursday, the league said that there would only be two games on December 25. The games were carefully planned so that they would stay in the way of the custom of opening gifts first thing in the morning.
These two teams will play each other on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. It is on the NFL Network at 8 p.m. ET and again at 9 p.m. The team will play the Chiefs in Kansas City. NBC at 8 p.m. ET. This season is the first in ten years that there will be two regular-season games on Christmas Day. The 2004–06 games were the last four-game stretch. No other team has ever played on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
NFL on Christmas Day: 5 memorable games
Because it’s Christmas, the NFL will have three games on Christmas Day. Games will be held for the fourth year in a row on this wonderful holiday when families give each other gifts. This practice has been very interesting to fans, and the NFL has gotten a lot out of it. The plan for the day starts at 1 p.m. EST in a game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West. The game will be shown on CBS. At 4:30 p.m., Fox will show the game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. At 8:15 p.m., the show will be over. This Sunday, the 49ers will go to Baltimore to play the Ravens. A+ and ABC will both show the game.
Hans Schroeder, senior vice president for media distribution for the NFL, said it was important to make the most of the weekends when families all over the country get together to watch and enjoy football. He said, “So in those years where Christmas falls on a day that we can play NFL games, we think that’s a great opportunity to serve our fans and create a new window that we think they’ll enjoy. I think the number of people who watched shows that they do.”
NFL Week 16: Fans treated to blockbuster Christmas Day triple-header
This Monday, the top seeds from each league will play in three highly anticipated games on Christmas Day. The stakes are bigger now that the playoffs are getting close. The holiday sports season starts with a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders in the AFC West. Even though they are already in the playoffs, the defending Super Bowl winners are now focused on winning their seventh straight divisional title. But as the season comes to an end, the Raiders are working hard to keep their dreams of making the playoffs alive.
There is no doubt that the Chiefs have been the best team for ten years. But Patrick Mahomes and his team haven’t been as good as they have been in recent weeks. Before their meaningless win over the New England Patriots last week, the Chiefs had lost two straight games to the Buffalo Bills and the Green Bay Packers. This week, Mahomes talked about how happy he was and how determined the team was to get back to winning.
Which NFL teams play in Christmas Day?
The three NFL Christmas Day 2023 games will be played on three different networks:
Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs, 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles, 4:30 p.m. (Fox)
Baltimore Ravens vs. San Francisco 49ers, 8:15 p.m. (ABC/ESPN)
This holiday season, the NFL will have three exciting games on Christmas Day. On Monday, December 25, 2023, you can watch three fun games with some of the best football action from Week 16. Learn when and how to watch the NFL on Christmas Day 2023 by reading on. You can also watch these NFL games for free on Christmas Day. FuboTV is a sports-focused streaming service that has almost all of the NFL games this season. You can watch all three games on Christmas Day 2023.
It comes with NBC Sunday Night Football, ESPN Monday Night Football, the NFL Network, CBS, and more. Monday Night Football is on Fox, Sunday NFC games are on “NFL on Fox,” and more. With this, you won’t need a TV package to watch anything but today’s games. For a free seven-day tryout of Fubo, you can watch the NFL without cable. You can start streaming right away on your TV, computer, tablet, or phone. FuboTV shows NFL football games as well as soccer games from around the world, as well as MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS.
What was the longest Christmas Day game in the NFL?
82 minutes, 40 seconds
Dolphins 27, Chiefs 24, 2OT (1971)
Christmas dinners nationwide were delayed as the Dolphins and Chiefs battled for 82 minutes, 40 seconds in what remains the NFL’s longest game.
Because it’s Christmas, the NFL will have three games on Christmas Day. This is the fourth year in a row that games are played on this special day when families exchange gifts at home. It’s worked out well for both the NFL and fans, as it brings in money and new fans.
The games start at noon. Right now. EST and an AFC West game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders will be shown on CBS. Their game against the Philadelphia Eagles is set to start at 4:30 p.m. In Fox. At 8:15 p.m., the show will be over when the San Francisco 49ers play the Baltimore Ravens in a game shown on ABC and ESPN+.
An NFL senior vice president for media distribution told The Athletic, “We have the chance to build and celebrate football on these days when families all across the country get together.” “So in those years when Christmas aligns with a day suitable for NFL games, we see it as a great opportunity to serve our fans and create a new window that we believe they’ll enjoy. The viewership numbers reflect the enthusiasm people have for these shows.”
When did the NFL start playing football on Christmas?
1971
The first Christmas Day games were held in 1971 with two Divisional Playoff clashes. The Dallas Cowboys beat the Minnesota Vikings 20-12 and moved on to the NFC Championship in the very first NFL Christmas Day game.
The National Football League only sometimes plays games on Christmas Day. Every year, games are played on Thanksgiving Day. Fans of the NFL enjoy turkey dinners and look forward to Thanksgiving games every year. However, Christmas Day games are only sometimes held.
Two Divisional Playoff games were played for the first time on Christmas Day, 1971. The Dallas Cowboys beat the Minnesota Vikings 20–12 in the NFL’s first game played on Christmas Day, moving on to the NFC Championship. In 1971, the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas Chiefs 27–24 in the second game of the day and went on to win the AFC Championship. The NFL record for the longest game ever was 82 minutes and 40 seconds, which makes this game very special. Few fans were excited to play games on Christmas because the record-setting game was so long that it might get in the way of their holiday celebrations. There were also protests against NFL games on a religious and family-friendly holiday. This made the league decide not to hold any games on Christmas Day for the next 18 years.
Has NFL always played on Christmas Day?
While the tradition of football on Thanksgiving has become a part of our culture, playing NFL games on Christmas Day is relatively rare. The first time that a pro football game was played on Christmas came in 1971 with a pair of playoff games slated for the holiday.
The NFC divisional playoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings took place at Metropolitan Stadium. It was a historic game with 17 Hall of Fame players. Bud Grant and Tom Landry, two coaches in the Hall of Fame, and Tex Schramm and Jim Finks, two front office workers, organized this historic event. Both of them have been inducted. Thirteen players from the Hall of Fame were also on the team.
Few people played better for the Cowboys than Herb Adderley, Lance Alworth, Mike Ditka, Forrest Gregg, Bob Hayes, Bob Lilly, Mel Renfro, Roger Staubach, and Rayfield Wright. Some Vikings players have gone to the Hall of Fame. Ron Yary, Paul Krause, Alan Page, and Carl Eller are just a few.
The well-known AFC playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs, which had 15 Hall of Fame players, also had a lot of Hall of Fame players. This double-overtime matchup is still the NFL’s longest game ever.
Why is there no NFL on Christmas?
The league also came under fire from some quarters for intruding on a traditional religious and family holiday, and a Kansas state legislator proposed a bill to ban the scheduling of future games on December 25. As a result, the NFL decided to not schedule any Christmas Day games for the next 17 seasons.
The National Football League (NFL) sometimes has games on December 25, which is Christmas Day. Because Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday and Christmas could be on any day of the week, these Christmas Day games are not something that people do every year, like Thanksgiving Day activities. Of the 14 weeks that made up the 1971 NFL regular season, two Divisional Playoff games were played, and the season ended on Christmas Day. The league didn’t hold any more games on Christmas Day until 1989 because people were unhappy with this decision.
Since then, the NFL has held games on Christmas Day and Christmas Eve on certain years, usually between weeks 16 and 17. By the end of the 2023 season, the NFL had played 30 games on Christmas Day, and all of them were shown across the country. From 2004 to 2006, 2016 to 2017, and 2021 to now, there were two games on Christmas Day every year. In 2022 and 2023, three games were planned.
The NFL usually plans games for the days that Christmas Day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. One of the few Saturday games in the last few weeks of each NFL season is on Christmas Day. When Christmas Day is on a Sunday, the usual Sunday afternoon games are moved to Christmas Eve. During one of the Christmas Day games, Sunday Night Football is shown as usual. Monday Night Football is played on Christmas Eve if Christmas Day is on a Monday. The regular Sunday afternoon games are also played. It has been moved to either Saturday, December 23 or Monday afternoon, December 24, for Sunday Night Football.
On some Fridays, games were played on Christmas Day. When professional football first started, the season usually ended in late November (with Thanksgiving games) or the first week of December, though this could change from club to club. Some games are for fun over the winter. Once league schedules were set up in the 1930s, the NFL Championship Game was usually held in the middle of December. Due to World War II, the 1943 NFL Championship Game had to be played on December 26 instead of Christmas Day or the next day. It was the first official NFL game to be played on or after Christmas.
