Detroit Lions vs. the moon? How lunar phase may impact Lions' poor Thanksgiving record

The Detroit Lions are a Thanksgiving staple in the NFL, but there's one thing that is hurting its holiday record, and the out of this world phenomena continued this year.

Entering Thursday, the Lions have played 83 total times on Turkey Day, playing on the holiday every year since in 1945. Detroit has an all-time record of 37-44-2 on Thanksgiving, which has been hurt by a nine-game losing streak from 2004-12 while riding a six-game losing skid entering Thursday, hoping for it to end with a team that is off to its best start in more than 50 years.

But there's a far worse losing streak for Detroit on the holiday, and it involves the moon.

X, formerly known as Twitter, user Jay Duda pulled up a stat on how when the moon is in a waxing gibbous phase on Thanksgiving, the Lions have lost all 12 games that have happened on such day. Even worse, the 2023 matchup against the Green Bay Packers occurred on a waxing gibbous night.

The bad omen continued.

The losing streak extended to 13 games on a waxing gibbous moon Thanksgiving night, with the Packers shocking the Lions 29-22 at Ford Field. The Lions are now 37-45-2 on Thanksgiving and have lost the past seven games on the holiday.

Detroit Lions Thanksgiving games during moon's waxing gibbous phase

The losing streak during the moon phase began in 1966 and the last such game before 2023 was 2020.

Here are all the Thanksgiving games the Lions have lost on a waxing gibbous:

• 1966: San Francisco 49ers 41, Detroit Lions 14

• 1968: Philadelphia Eagles 12, Detroit Lions 0

• 1974: Denver Broncos 31, Detroit Lions 27

• 1977: Chicago Bears 31, Detroit Lions 14

• 1982: New York Giants 13, Detroit Lions 6

• 1993: Chicago Bears 10, Detroit Lions 6

• 2004: Indianapolis Colts 41, Detroit Lions 9

• 2007: Green Bay Packers 37, Detroit Lions 26

• 2009: Green Bay Packers 34, Detroit Lions 12

• 2012: Houston Texans 34, Detroit Lions 31 (OT)

• 2018: Chicago Bears 23, Detroit Lions 16

• 2020: Houston Texans 41, Detroit Lions 25

• 2023: Green Bay Packers 29, Detroit Lions 22

Contributing: Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Detroit Lions vs. moon? How lunar phase may hurt Thanksgiving record