Which NFL teams have played the most on Christmas Day, and who has won the most?

For the sixth year in a row, NFL fans will have football as a side dish as they tuck into their turkey, or main of choice, on Christmas Day. For just the third time ever, there will be three games to feast your eyes on this Dec. 25, with the Washington Commanders hosting the Dallas Cowboys (1 p.m. ET), the Detroit Lions visiting the Minnesota Vikings (4:30 p.m. ET) and the Kansas City Chiefs welcoming the Denver Broncos (8:15 p.m. ET).

It wasn’t always this way, though.

A brief history of Christmas football

This is only the 21st season in which NFL games have been scheduled on Christmas Day, with the festive football phenomenon only truly blossoming in recent years.

After scheduling two divisional playoff games on Dec. 25, 1971, a decision that proved unpopular, the NFL stayed away from Christmas entirely for nearly two decades. No games were played on Christmas Day again until 1989.

Between then and 2019, games were only scheduled on Christmas if the holiday fell on a Saturday, Sunday or Monday, the days on which NFL games were traditionally played at that time of year anyway.

The teams that keep showing up on Christmas

Since the first Christmas Day games in 1971, two teams are tied for the most appearances. The Chiefs (three wins, two losses) and the Cowboys (two wins, three losses) have both played five times and will extend that record to six in 2025.

Seven franchises are currently tied with four Christmas Day appearances. However, the Vikings and the Broncos will each play in their fifth game this year, moving them ahead of the Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans and Arizona Cardinals.

Which NFL team has the best Christmas Day record?

As for the team with the best record, one clearly stands above the rest.

While six teams have won their only Christmas Day appearance, the Philadelphia Eagles are the only franchise with a perfect record across multiple games on Dec. 25.

Philly defeated the Cowboys in 2006, beat the Oakland Raiders in 2017 and saw off the New York Giants in 2023 to cement their status as the NFL’s festive football kings.

The Ravens and the Packers own the next-best records, having won three of their four games played on Christmas Day.

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