NFL sacks CFP for a loss as Packers-Bears dominates Saturday

The NFL dominated the College Football Playoff by even larger margins than last year, led by a dramatic Packers-Bears game.

Saturday’s Packers-Bears NFL regular season game averaged 21.34 million viewers on FOX, marking easily the most-watched sporting event on a crowded day of pro and college football. The Bears’ dramatic win dominated the competing James Madison-Oregon College Football Playoff game on TNT Sports, which drew 4.4 million.

Both NFL games easily won their head-to-head with the CFP. Earlier in the evening, Eagles-Commanders averaged 15.46 million on FOX — trouncing the competing audience of 6.2 million for Tulane-Mississippi on TNT Sports.

The NFL won its head-to-head with the CFP by 385 and 150 percent respectively, much larger margins than last year — when Steelers-Ravens beat Clemson-Texas by 73% (15.4 to 8.9 million) and Texans-Chiefs beat SMU-Penn State by 54% (14.3 to 6.6 million). Both NFL windows increased from last year, with Eagles-Commanders up nine percent from Texans-Chiefs and Bears-Packers up 39% from Steelers-Ravens. Keep in mind last year’s games aired in earlier windows (1 and 4:25 PM ET respectively).

By comparison, both CFP games declined from last year’s NFL-facing windows, with Tulane-Mississippi down 6% from SMU-Penn State and JMU-Oregon down a whopping 51% from Clemson-Texas.

The CFP was not helped by the quality of the matchups, which featured group of five teams being blown out. Last year’s first round consisted solely of “Power Four” teams, as the lone group of five playoff team (Boise State) was a top four seed and bypassed the first round.

There is of course no shame in losing to — or even being crushed by — the NFL. The NBA will no doubt be trounced by even a mediocre slate of NFL games on Thursday, and even this year’s dramatic World Series was crushed in its head-to-head with “Monday Night Football.”

Nevertheless, the impact of the NFL competition was glaring. The two CFP games that did not face the NFL both averaged nearly fifteen million viewers, with Alabama-Oklahoma at 14.9 million on Friday night and Miami-Texas A&M at 14.8 million on Saturday afternoon. Those games, which aired on ABC and the ESPN cable networks, outperformed all of last year’s first round games.

But the two NFL-facing games were so weak relative to last year that the full opening round average — 9.9 million — declined from last year (10.6M).

For the season, Alabama-Oklahoma and Miami-Texas A&M rank as the fifth and sixth most-watched games of the season, behind the Big Ten and SEC title games, Ohio State-Michigan and Texas-Ohio State. By comparison, Tulane-Mississippi ranks outside of the top 30 and James Madison-Oregon outside the top 50.