#nfl-history

#nfl-history

Thanksgiving is a time for family ... and football. So we're using our latest NFL Power Rankings to look at the holiday synonymous with the sport. Ahead of the three games on Thursday (Packers at Lions, Chiefs at Cowboys and Bengals at Ravens), we asked our NFL Nation reporters to look back at each team's history on the holiday. Thirty-one teams have at least one appearance on Thanksgiving -- sorry Jaguars fans, better luck next year.

The event was the brainchild of an ambitious Los Angeles-based lettuce farmer, Frank Takahashi. Takahashi footed the bill to stage a cross-Pacific showdown between the two teams, hoping one day to own a Tokyo-based franchise - a cost of several hundred thousand dollars at the time, equivalent to millions today. "If we have a sellout," he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1976, "I will break even."

Lionel Taylor, an original Denver Bronco and a Ring of Fame member, died at age 89 on August 6, leaving a significant legacy in professional football.

The Dallas Cowboys are generally a good football team. However, they've had their ups and downs, and perhaps their lowest point was 1989 when they won only one single game. This was right after the team was purchased by current owner Jerry Jones, and they had all-time-great NFL coach Jimmy Johnson on the sidelines.