Fox may have only had one game during the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs last weekend, but they made the most of it. The San Francisco 49ers’ walk-off 13-10 win over the Green Bay Packers drew 36.9 million viewers and was the network’s most-watched Saturday. telecast of any kind.
The game, which started at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m for the Bay Area crowd), was up 40% over last year’s comparable window (Ravens-Bills on CBS).
The defensive slugfest featured two blocked kicks by the 49ers, including a blocked punt that the 49ers would return for their only touchdown of the game. The 49ers never led until Robbie Gould’s kick put them ahead as time expired. Frosty conditions and snow in the second half at the Packers’ vaunted Lambeau Field only added to the intrigue.
Each of the four-games in the Divisional Round of the playoffs featured the winning points scored as time expired. Three of the four home teams, including both the top-seeded Packers and Tennessee Titans, as well as Tom Brady and the defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, were knocked out.
The weekend concluded with the Kansas City Chiefs’ overtime win over the Buffalo Bills, which drew the ratings for a Divisional Round game in five years with more than 42 million viewers on CBS. The network’s Cincinnati Bengals vs. Tennessee Titans game on Saturday afternoon drew 30.752 million total viewers, up 13% from last year’s comparable game. It was the strongest performance in that window in six years.
The Los Angeles Rams’ last-second win over the Bucs aired on NBC Sunday afternoon. We do not have ratings for that yet.
Next Sunday will be both the AFC and NFC Championship games to determine who will meet in Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13. CBS gets the early game between the Chiefs and the surging Cincinnati Bengals, while the NFC championship will feature a Northern California vs. Southern California matchup when the San Francisco 49ers come to SoFi Stadium to play the Los Angeles Rams. The winner of the game, which is on Fox, will get to play at that same stadium two weeks later.