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After Thursday’s win over the Dallas Cowboys, countless news outlets reported the Philadelphia Eagles had moved to 5-0 on Thanksgiving Day, the best record for any franchise in NFL history. There’s just one little thing: It’s technically not true.

An odd presidential decree prior to World War II temporarily changed the date of Thanksgiving and extensive research (ie, lots of Googling) has determined that Philly’s win streak is bunk. Please let us explain.

Here are the five games commonly referred to as Philly’s Thanksgiving wins:

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Nov. 27, 2014: Philadelphia Eagles 33, Dallas Cowboys 10

Nov. 27, 2008: Philadelphia Eagles 48, Arizona Cardinals 20

Nov. 23, 1989: Philadelphia Eagles 27, Dallas Cowboys 0

Nov. 28, 1968: Philadelphia Eagles 12, Detroit Lions 0

Nov. 23, 1939: Philadelphia Eagles, 17, Pittsburgh Steelers 14

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

Dominant they were. That’s a 137-44 cumulative score with two shutouts and a 60-10 combined shellacking of the rival Cowboys. So what’s the problem with the 5-0 stat? It seems black and white, right? Five games, five wins. But there’s an old shade of gray complicating things.

Since the 1800s, Thanksgiving had been celebrated on the final Thursday of November. This sometimes meant the holiday fell on Nov. 29 or Nov. 30, the last two days of the month. But in 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt decided to move Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of the month (Nov. 23) in an attempt to boost retail sales. Had the date been on Nov. 30, there would have been only 24 shopping days until Christmas.

(AP)

Not everyone agreed with the decision. It created a huge national controversy (and a great “Franksgiving” nickname). Of the 48 states in the union, 23 adhered to Roosevelt’s new law, 23 rejected it and two (Texas and Colorado) observed both. Pennsylvania was one of the states that followed the decree. That year, Philadelphia played a Thanksgiving game on Nov. 23 and won the 17-14 game over the Steelers,mentioned above. That’s the first game in Philly’s turkey day winning streak.

But one year later, on the state governor’s decree, Pennsylvania decided to return Thanksgiving to its original date on the final Thursday of the month. That meant that when the Eagles lost to the Steelers 7-0 on Nov. 28, 1940, it was on Thanksgiving Day in Philadelphia.

(Gannett Photo Network)

What does it all mean? Despite what the NFL says (justifiably so), the Philadelphia Eagles are not undefeated on Thanksgiving. They’ve played six games on that date, four when the entire nation was celebrating the day and two when Pennsylvania was one of a handful of states celebrating. If 1939 counts, then 1940 should too.

You can debate what a holiday means when half the country celebrate on one day versus another, but this fact in undebatable: On days the Eagles play when Pennsylvanians celebrate Thanksgiving, the team is 5-1. It’s not undefeated, but don’t sweat it too much; that’s still tied for the best record on Thanksgiving among qualified teams.

Our apologies, Ben Frankllin. (White House Historical Association)