On our most recent podcast, John Paulsen and I debated whether or not the Detroit Lions should continue to be featured on Thanksgiving Day. I argued yes because it was a tradition in the NFL, he argued no because he didn’t want to see the Lions play every season.

After watching the Tennessee Titans completely demolish Detroit 47-10 on Thursday, I agree with JP – get the Lions off Thanksgiving Day. That was one of the most pathetic efforts of the season by any team and I feel for Lion fans that have to endure that on a weekly basis. There the Lions were with nothing to play for and they’re punting on 4th and 1 down four touchdowns in the second half. Are you serious? What do you have to lose?

That said, I’m officially petitioning for the Lions to be taken off of Thanksgiving Day. To be fair, I say take the Dallas Cowboys off of Thanksgiving Day too, although at least they field a competitive team more times than not.

Instead, why doesn’t the NFL do a rematch of the team conference championship games from the year before? Chances are the four teams will still at least be competitive, and therefore the networks should get decent matchups. This year would have been the Giants vs. Packers and Patriots vs. Chargers. Granted the Packers and Chargers aren’t as good as they were a year ago, but would anyone have a problem with those matchups? It’s probably safe to say both of those games would have been closer than the Tennessee-Detroit debacle. The third game of the day could be a divisional matchup of some sort.

Maybe that’s not the best solution, but they have to do something. On a day where everyone is off and enjoying football with family members, to watch the Lions get harassed for four quarters doesn’t make any sense. Fans don’t need a playoff-type matchup, but we deserve better that 47-10.

It’s a shame that the best matchup of the day is Cardinals-Eagles, which will be played on NFL Network for an audience of 12 people.