Chiefs Play Cowboys On Thanksgiving

Kansas City Chiefs fans, you might have to ignore your family during the holiday season and focus on the television instead.

That’s because the Chiefs are holiday darlings once again.

One year after defeating the Las Vegas Raiders on Black Friday, it was announced on Wednesday morning that the Chiefs will visit the Dallas Cowboys in a blockbuster CBS game on Thanksgiving Day at 3:30 p.m. CST.

And on Monday it was announced the Chiefs will host the divisional rival Denver Broncos on Christmas night at 7:15 p.m. CST on Amazon Prime Video. It represents the third straight year the Chiefs have played on Christmas.

During last year’s home game against the Broncos, the Chiefs preserved their win in dramatic fashion by blocking a last-second, 35-yard field goal. The rematch occurred in the last game of the season, and the Broncos trounced the Chiefs, 38-0, when the Chiefs rested all of their starters.

The Chiefs previously played the Cowboys on Thanksgiving 20 years ago in 1995. The Cowboys won the game 24-12 and went on to win Super Bowl XXX.

The 2025 version will be a highly-anticipated game. Not only does it match “America’s Team” against the NFL’s current dynasty, which has gone to the last three Super Bowls, it also will mean a little extra for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

He gets to return to his hometown against the team for whom he grew up rooting.

Mahomes was born in Tyler, Texas, which is about 100 miles from Dallas, and played football at Whitehouse High in Texas before starring at Texas Tech.

“I grew up a Cowboys fan,” Mahomes exclusively shared.

Mahomes spent his formative years rooting for Tony Romo, the Cowboys quarterback who earned his first Pro Bowl berth in 2006 and had a 2-4 postseason record. “I was more [a fan of] Romo,” Mahomes said. “Aikman was right before me. So I got a lot of close playoff games but not a lot of wins. I was still a die-hard Cowboys fan growing up.”

Mahomes’ special connection with Romo, who will be announcing the Thanksgiving game for CBS, goes beyond that.

While Mahomes was at Texas Tech, his then-head coach and now the current Washington Commanders offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury, asked Romo to write Mahomes a letter of encouragement.

“I followed his career ever since,” Romo said. “He was just a kid with big dreams, and it’s amazing to see him go out and do what he’s done.”

What Mahomes has done is make the Chiefs the must-watch team in the NFL.

It’s why they will appear on TV on a nationally-televised Christmas game for the third straight year.

Last year they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 29-10 on the road in a game broadcast on Netflix.

The year before the rival Raiders stunned the Chiefs 20-14 in one of the worst offensive performances of Mahomes’ Chiefs tenure. That, though, was the last game the Chiefs lost that year en route to winning Super Bowl LVIII.

Mahomes has taken the Chiefs to the Super Bowl five times, and because of that immense success, they’ve become a fixture of holiday viewing.