While there’s an argument to be made that no real winner emerged from Saturday afternoon’s divisional round shootout between the Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos, CBS certainly walked away from the broadcast with an unequivocal victory.

In an overtime thriller that saw Bills quarterback Josh Allen reduced to tears and Broncos fans in much the same state upon the revelation of Bo Nix’s season-ending ankle injury, CBS served up the biggest Saturday TV audience since the eighth night of the 1994 Winter Olympics. According to Nielsen, the network’s coverage of Denver’s 33-30 home win averaged 39.6 million viewers, an increase of 17% versus last year’s analogous Texans-Chiefs game on ESPN/ABC.

The previous record for the early Saturday divisional round window was set by Fox in 2012, as the 49ers’ dramatic come-from-behind win over the Saints averaged 35.6 million viewers. As with all comparisons between today’s TV ratings and those of yesteryear, it’s worth noting that neither Fox’s NFC clash nor CBS’ Olympics broadcast of 32 years ago were boosted by out-of-home deliveries.

The CBS audience peaked with 51.3 million viewers as Wil Lutz’s 23-yard field goal split the uprights in overtime. The chip shot propelled Denver into the AFC Championship game for the first time since 2016, when Peyton Manning led the Broncos to a 20-18 victory over Tom Brady and the Patriots. The rematch between these two franchises is set to kick off on CBS this Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.

While CBS reaped the benefits of a nailbiter up in the Rockies, Fox wasn’t nearly as fortunate in the late Saturday window. Seattle’s 41-6 dismemberment of San Francisco averaged 31.9 million viewers, down 8% versus last year’s considerably more competitive Commanders-Lions game (34.6 million), and off 15% compared to Fox’s Packers-49ers broadcast in 2024.

Fox will look to bounce back from that tension-free assignment with the Rams-Seahawks NFC title tilt in the late Sunday window. The last time the two rivals met in the postseason was in the 2005 wild card round, when the Rams still called St. Louis home; per Nielsen, ABC’s broadcast averaged 21.9 million viewers.

Final ratings for the Sunday NFL games will be released on Thursday.