PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : TODAY’S GAMES : Super Bowl Preview, or Another Bizarre Game?

Thanksgiving Day at Texas Stadium. Sometimes it’s like being in the Bermuda Triangle.

Last year, Jason Garrett, a third-stringer who had never started an NFL game, did so against the Green Bay Packers because Troy Aikman and Rodney Peete were injured, and led the Dallas Cowboys to an easy victory. Two years ago, during a snowstorm, the Cowboys’ Leon Lett touched the ball after a blocked field-goal attempt, setting up the Miami Dolphins for a dramatic victory.

“We’ve had some bizarre stuff happen on Thanksgiving,” the Cowboys’ Bill Bates said. “For some reason it’s always a crazy game with crazy things happening.”

Today, the Kansas City Chiefs, sporting the NFL’s best record at 10-1 and a seven-game winning streak, play the Cowboys (9-2), who are 18-8-1 on Thanksgiving.

The Chiefs can clinch a wild-card berth with a victory.

Kansas City owner Lamar Hunt, who lives in Dallas, said it’s a big advantage for the Cowboys always to be playing at home on Thanksgiving and has lobbied his fellow owners to make a change.

“It’s a tremendous competitive advantage to them,” Hunt said. “The game should be spread around.”

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Detroit fans will be pulling for their Lions (5-6) to defeat the Minnesota Vikings (6-5). Yet it’s hard to find anyone willing to admit they want Coach Wayne Fontes back next season.

Lions fans have seen this act before. The team seems hopelessly out of the playoff picture by midseason. Then the players rally around Fontes, put on a strong finish and save the coach’s job--again.

Since 1989, his first full season as coach, Fontes has guided the Lions to a record of 22-13 on and after Thanksgiving. His record before Thanksgiving is 34-43.

“Those guys just seem to rally around Wayne,” Viking Coach Dennis Green said. “That’s the thing that bothers me.”