Bears at Packers (and Favre’s number retirement ceremony) on Thanksgiving

It’s NFL schedule release day, a bona fide holiday around many parts, and we have unwrapped our first of 256 presents.

The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers will continue the best rivalry in the NFL with a showdown on Thanksgiving night, as reported by Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. Yes, please.

In addition, the Packers will use Thanksgiving night to put former quarterback Brett Favre’s retired number in their ring of honor at Lambeau Field. That was reported by Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Favre’s number will be retired when he’s inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame on July 18.

This will be the Packers’ first home Thanksgiving game since Nov. 29, 1923. The Packers beat the Hammond Pros 19-0 that day. Also on that Thanksgiving, the Canton Bulldogs shut out the Toledo Maroons 28-0.

The Packers have dominated the series recently, and in particular have caused quarterback Jay Cutler fits. The Bears are 1-10, counting playoffs, against the Packers in games Cutler has started. The last meeting was a 55-14 pounding at Lambeau Field. Even though the series has been one-sided lately, it’s still Lambeau Field, two great traditional rivals, and Thanksgiving. Throw in the ceremony for Favre and there’s a lot to like there.

In past years the NFL released select games before the regular-season schedule in full was announced. Bears-Packers was the first game to be released for the 2015 schedule. Perhaps we’ll get another crumb here or there on Tuesday afternoon, but the entire schedule is slated to be released at 8 p.m. ET, with plenty of coverage of the slate from Shutdown Corner.

– – – – – – –

Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab