Thanksgiving is behind us but that’s not stopping the NFL from having a holiday triple-header. Once again, the league is holding three games as millions of Americans celebrate a holiday, this time on Christmas.
The NFL’s triple-header on Christmas is still a new concept for football fans. The league avoided the holiday for decades with one brief exception in 1971 for the divisional round of the playoffs.
In 1989, the NFL held a Christmas Day game because the holiday fell on a Monday. The Minnesota Vikings beat the Cincinnati Bengals 29-21 to end an 18-year drought on the holiday.
Over the next 30 years, the NFL played a total of 19 games on Christmas. The league traditionally avoided the holiday but that changed in recent times.
The NFL had a Christmas game in 2020 then expanded to multiple games the year after and kept that pace ever since. Here’s a look at the results of every Christmas Day NFL game:
NFL Christmas history, results
1971 (Divisional playoffs)
- Dallas Cowboys 20-12Minnesota Vikings
- Miami Dolphins 27-24 (2OT)Kansas City Chiefs
1989
- Minnesota Vikings 29-21Cincinnati Bengals
1993
- Houston Oilers 10-7San Francisco 49ers
1994
- Miami Dolphins 27-20Detroit Lions
1995
- Dallas Cowboys 37-13Arizona Cardinals
1999
- Denver Broncos 17-7Detroit Lions
2000
- Tennessee Titans 31-0 Dallas Cowboys
2004
- Kansas City Chiefs 31-30 Oakland Raiders
- Denver Broncos 37-16 Tennessee Titans
2005
- Chicago Bears 24-17Green Bay Packers
- Baltimore Ravens 30-23 Minnesota Vikings
2006
- Philadelphia Eagles 23-7 Dallas Cowboys
- New York Jets 13-10 Miami Dolphins
2009
- San Diego Chargers 42-17 Tennessee Titans
2010
- Arizona Cardinals 27-26 Dallas Cowboys
2011
- Green Bay Packers 35-21 Chicago Bears
2016
- Pittsburgh Steelers 31-27 Baltimore Ravens
- Kansas City Chiefs 33-10 Denver Broncos
2017
- Pittsburgh Steelers 34-6 Houston Texans
- Philadelphia Eagles 19-10 Oakland Raiders
2020
- New Orleans Saints 52-33 Minnesota Vikings
2021
- Green Bay Packers 24-22 Cleveland Browns
- Indianapolis Colts 22-16 Arizona Cardinals
2022
- Green Bay Packers 26-20 Miami Dolphins
- Los Angeles Rams 51-14 Denver Broncos
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers 19-16 (OT) Arizona Cardinals
2023
- Las Vegas Raiders 20-14 Kansas City Chiefs
- Philadelphia Eagles 33-25 New York Giants
- Baltimore Ravens 33-19 San Francisco 49ers
2024
- Kansas City Chiefs 29-10 Pittsburgh Steelers
- Baltimore Ravens 31-2 Houston Texans
2025
- Washington Commanders vs. Dallas Cowboys, 1 p.m. ET, Netflix
- Minnesota Vikings vs. Detroit Lions, 4:30 p.m. ET, Netflix
- Kansas City Chiefs vs. Denver Broncos, 8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video
