Today is one of the great NFL traditions that I wish the Packers were a permanent part of — the Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit.

The Packers used to play the Lions in Detroit (or Pontiac after and before) on Thanksgiving until 1962, when the Packers’ only loss was that game. Vince Lombardi decided to end the tradition after that, which seems like an uncharacteristic-for-Lombardi thing to do, to wriggle out of a challenge.

Not many fans may realize this, but Lions vs. Packers is the NFL’s longest continuously played rivalry, with twice-yearly meetings since 1932. Yes, the Packers have played Da Bears longer, but the NFL strike in 1982 wiped out that season’s Bears–Packers meetings.

The Lions have done better on Thanksgiving than on days not named Thanksgiving for several years. Which makes, according to Bleacher Report, the Packers a bigger rival for the Lions than the other two NFC North teams:

What do the following things all have in common? The Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field, Ahman Green, Donald Driver, Charles Woodson, Jordy Nelson and freakin’ Samkon Gado!

They’re all part of Green Bay Packers lore, and they’ve all killed the Detroit Lions at one time or another.

Of course, all those names are from the last 20 years. The truth is, the Green Bay Packers have been dominating the Lions much longer than that. …

The overall record is 98-65-7 in favor of Green Bay, and the Pack have outscored the Lions by nearly 1,000 points in those games.

Even worse, they are 2-0 in the postseason against the hapless Lions. …

A history of butt-whoopings isn’t the only reason why, either.

The Packers Have What Lions Fans Want

I’m not talking about Super Bowl wins; I’ll get to that later. What the Packers have that Lions fans want is myth, legend and historical significance.

They have a myriad of Hall of Famers who helped make the NFL what it is today. Vince Lombardi, Ray Nitschke, Bart Starr and Reggie White all had huge impacts on the NFL.

Lombardi’s speeches will live forever. Nitschke typified the kind of hard-nosed never-say-die player every team wanted. Defensive ends will be trying to emulate White’s powerful pass rush forever.

The Lions have no such players in their history.  Bobby Layne is more famous for the curse he put on the Lions when he left than for what he did when he played.

Alex Karras is more famous for his work on television and in film than for playing football in Detroit.

Then there’s Barry Sanders. He’s one player Lions fans could always hang their hat on. Arguably the greatest running back in NFL history, he chose retirement over playing out his career in Detroit. …

Even on the rare occasion when the Lions steal a win from them, like in 2010, there’s always an asterisk. In this case, Aaron Rodgers was knocked out of the game. So the Lions’ 7-3 victory actually turned into a negative.

The Packers were without their best player and the Lions managed to beat them by only four points?

Regardless, it’s the losses that chap the you-know-what of Lions’ fans, and there are three particular games that stand out.

In 1993, the Lions finished 10-6 and beat the Packers in the last game of the season. They won home-field advantage in the playoffs, and fans were going crazy. Sanders, Herman Moore and Rodney Peete were poised to make a playoff run.

Unfortunately, they had to play the Packers again in the first round. Any knucklehead could tell you the Lions’ chances of beating them twice in a row were slim to none. The Pack knocked the Lions out of the playoffs by the score 28-24.

Dreams were dashed.

The following season, the Lions were riding a wave of positive energy from the previous year’s playoff berth. They went 9-7 and reached the playoffs for the second straight year.

That year would be different, right?

Wrong. The Packers held Sanders to minus-1 yard rushing and the Lions to minus-4 yards rushing as a team. The Lions lost 16-12, but it was how the game ended that really boiled fans’ blood.

The Packers intentionally took a safety to run out the clock and seal the victory. That’s bush league and made Lions fans all the more irate.

Finally, the Packers had the pleasure of putting the final nail in the coffin of the worst season in NFL history. They beat the Lions 31-21 on December 28, 2008 and the Lions finished 0-16.

It was painful for fans to watch the Lions go winless, but to lose the final game to the Packers was excruciating.

And the Lions haven’t won at Lambeau Field since 1991.

Adding spice to today’s battle of two teams within one-half game of each other in the NFC North are the comments of Packers offensive lineman Josh Sitton, as reported by Lombardi Avenue:

It probably wasn’t the best timing and probably not the best thing to say two days before a big game but that clearly didn’t matter to Green Bay Packers left Pro-Bowl guard Josh Sitton.

He went on the air today with @GaryEllerson and the @1250WSSP, and was just being Josh … honesty is the best policy – even though it will certainly lead to bulletin board material for the Detroit Lions.

Sitton should know. He plays against those guys twice a year and doesn’t mince words when he talks about the opposition. When it comes to the Lions, it’s not a secret. They are dirty. They do everything they can to get to the quarterback. They do everything they can to hurt the quarterback and when Sitton was asked if the Lions would go after Aaron Rodgers (or whomever is playing quarterback for the Packers), here’s what he had to say:

“Absolutely. I don’t think there’s any question about that. They go after quarterbacks. Their entire defense takes cheap shots all the time, that’s what they do, that’s who they are. They’re a bunch of dirtbags, or scumbags. I mean, that’s how they play.”

He wasn’t done either.

He also told us something about from where the attitude stems:

“It starts with their frickin’ coach. Starts with the head coach. Schwartz, he’s a (expletive), too, I wouldn’t want to play for him. … Starts with him, their D-coordinator and their D-line coach. They’re all just scumbags, and so are the D-line.”

He’s right.

The Lions play a game of pain. Their game is to inflict pain any way they can. When they have a coach who can’t even shake an opposing coach’s hand after a game without chasing him down because his ego was bruised, you can see how that attitude would be reflected by the players who play for him.

The reaction, one day later:

You heard them, I heard them, the Lions heard them and head coach Mike McCarthy heard them … did he care and does it really matter?

Well, here’s how McCarthy reacted this morning when asked about it:

“I heard about them. Really, when matters like that happen with the media, the only thing I ask our players is to not create questions for everybody else in the locker room. Those comments did not create that.”

That’s because everyone, including McCarthy, knows that what Sitton said was spot-on. They ARE scumbags and their style of play only backs that up. McCarthy didn’t say it in those words, but his comment and reaction only solidifies Sitton’s comments.

Whether it’s bulletin board material or not doesn’t matter at this level of the game. They are all professionals and will go out and play like their next paycheck depends upon it. But watching the line play will be interesting … in fact watching the action after plays will be even more interesting. That’s when the dirty work gets done by the scumbags.