The final Monday Night Football game of the 2024 season was also the most watched.
In terms of stakes, the game had limited meaning for both teams. For the Detroit Lions — who defeated the San Francisco 49ers 40-34 — Week 18’s game against the Minnesota Vikings will decide the NFC North champion and No. 1 seed in the NFC. That was not altered by Monday’s result. San Francisco, meanwhile, had already been eliminated from the playoffs.
But despite the limited stakes, NFL fans tuned into the rematch of last season’s NFC Championship Game in droves.
“Lions-49ers was the most-watched Monday Night Football game of this season, ESPN announced,” Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk detailed. “The game, which aired on both ABC and ESPN, drew 22.2 million viewers, which ESPN said is one of the five most-watched Monday night games since ESPN got the Monday night rights in 2006.”
Fantasy championships definitely could have had some big swings in a game that featured a lot of offense and no punting.
The 49ers led for most of the game, but the Lions stayed close and took a 31-28 lead late in the third quarter. Detroit built on the lead and effectively put the game away with a touchdown and field goal in the fourth quarter before the 49ers closed the scoring with a touchdown in the final minute.
So, even if the stakes were limited, it’s likely that most of the 22.2 million people who watched the game were happy they did.