Well, that is unless you're a Lions fan. In today's newsletter, we'll recap the Christmas sports slate and look ahead to the weekend, which includes more than a handful of critical football games as the NFL playoffs continue to take shape.

Nate Tice reacts to the Christmas Day NFL slate and looks ahead to the NFL playoff race. Nate gives his instant takeaways from the Dallas Cowboys win over the Washington Commanders, a wild Minnesota Vikings upset win to knock the Detroit Lions out of playoff contention and the Denver Broncos taking care of the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night in their quest for the top seed in the AFC.

The Green Bay Packers celebrated on social media after clinching a spot in the 2026 NFL playoffs on Christmas Day.

The Packers clinched a playoff spot with the Lions' loss to the Vikings on Christmas. Detroit was eliminated with the defeat, and now Green Bay is competing with Chicago for the NFC North.

With Detroit’s season on the line on Thursday, the Lions defense held the Minnesota Vikings to 161 yards. But the Detroit offense lost six turnovers as the Vikings took a 23-10 Christmas victory.

A former Iowa high school football standout helped derail the playoff hopes of an NFL team on Christmas Day. Andrew Van Ginkel, a graduate of Rock Valley High School who dominated at Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley, was part of a Minnesota Vikings defense that helped slow the offense of the Detroit Lions down, earning a 23-10 victory Thursday.

The NFL's Christmas Day slate was supposed to have playoff implications with key divisional matchups, but it won't featured three key starting quarterbacks in each game.

There have been 32 NFL games played on Christmas in league history. Here's which teams have played on the holiday the most.

The Detroit Lions are used to playing on Thanksgiving Day. Now, for just the third time ever, they're playing on Christmas Day, too. The Lions hope to keep its slim postseason chances alive when they visit the Minnesota Vikings as the second game of a Christmas triple-header.