Chiefs’ Thanksgiving game sets NFL record as KC continues to dominate TV ratings
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chiefs-Cowboys drew 57.23 million viewers, peaking at 61.357 million.
- Packers-Lions reached 47.7 million, briefly holding the previous record.
- Chiefs occupy three of the season's five highest-rated games, topping TV.
Ahead of the Chiefs’ game against the Cowboys, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes spoke about the NFL’s Thanksgiving tradition.
“You grow up watching Thanksgiving games no matter who you’re a fan of,” Mahomes said. “If it’s the Lions, Cowboys or whoever is playing at night, you grow up watching those games.”
The NFL routinely has its biggest ratings of the regular season on Thanksgiving. Heading into 2025, the most-watched regular-season game of all-time came in 2022 for the Giants-Cowboys tilt on Turkey Day. That garnered 42.1 million viewers.
That game is now No. 3 on the NFL’s all-time regular-season ratings record, as the Chiefs-Cowboys game last Thursday garnered an astounding 57.23 million viewers, CBS Sports said Wednesday.
Between 6:45 p.m. and 7 p.m., viewership spiked to 61.357 million viewers, per CBS.
Also beating the old record was Thursday’s Packers-Lions contest, which had 47.7 million viewers on Fox. That briefly held the record for the highest-rated regular-season NFL game ... until the Chiefs played the Cowboys.
Chiefs dominate 2025 ratings
The Chiefs have supplanted the Cowboys as America’s Team, as this season’s television ratings show.
Ahead of Thanksgiving, the NFL shared the five highest-rated games this season. The top three involved the Chiefs.
This story was originally published December 3, 2025 at 11:13 AM with the headline "Chiefs’ Thanksgiving game sets NFL record as KC continues to dominate TV ratings."
