As I watched Thursday’s Thanksgiving games, including Brett Favre’s 381-yard day that surely will be remembered among the top performances for the holiday, I tried to recall what was the most memorable Thanksgiving game in my lifetime. Surely, the Leon Lett debacle of 1993 ranks up there. But for me personally, nothing tops Bears-Lions 1980.

We are watching the game in my grandparents’ living room, and it goes to overtime. The Bears, who would not go to the playoffs this season and began their slide which wouldn’t end until 1984 when they reached the NFC championship, receive the kickoff. David Williams gets the ball and returns it for a touchdown in the victory in what was the shortest overtime in NFL history (I think Brett Favre’s TD pass against the Broncos might have broke that record). It was fortunate I didn’t go into my grandparents’ dining room for another dessert, or I would have missed the TD and the victory.

Yeah, Leon Lett is probably more memorable, or Tony Romo’s coming-out party last year, or Ron Dayne’s big OT run a couple years ago, or a host of other Thanksgiving games that have slipped out of my brain. Maybe it was the exciting Bears finish — there weren’t many in the early ’80s. Maybe it was simply watching the game at my grandparents’ house on the holiday. Either way, the Thanksgiving games are one of the NFL’s great traditions.