The Patrick Mahomes–Joe Burrow rivalry has been a godsend for fans and advertisers alike, as their fifth head-to-head matchup served up record ratings for CBS.
According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, the Eye Network’s coverage of the Chiefs’ 26-25 win over the Bengals in the NFL’s Sunday afternoon national window averaged 27.87 million viewers, which marked the highest September TV turnout for CBS since 1998. Deliveries were up 8% versus the year-ago Jets-Cowboys broadcast (25.78 million).
The usual caveats about the inflationary impact of out-of-home deliveries apply here; since Nielsen began adding impressions garnered in bars, restaurants and other venues to its TV panel in 2020, ratings-watchers have had to contend with what amounts to a whole lot of apples-to-pineapples comparisons.
A walk-off field goal by Kansas City’s Harrison Butker decided Sunday’s game, making this the fourth matchup of the Mahomes vs. Burrow era to come down to last-second leg heroics—a pattern that also played out in the 2022 and 2023 AFC Championship Games.
Sunday’s game was the third regular-season showdown between the AFC signal callers, as Burrow did not play in the Bengals’ 25-17 loss on Dec. 23, 2023. (Despite the starting QB’s absence—a torn ligament in his throwing wrist ended Burrow’s campaign five weeks earlier—CBS averaged 26.17 million viewers in the late window.) Mahomes and Burrow first met in a coast-to-coast TV setting on Dec. 4, 2022, when the latter rallied the Bengals to a 27-24 win in front of 23.41 million viewers.
Their very first meeting, which took place on Jan. 2, 2022, was remanded to CBS’ 1 p.m. ET regional window. From those humble beginnings, Mahomes and Burrow would go on to put up monster numbers in consecutive conference title tilts, drawing 47.85 million viewers with the Bengals’ win in 2022 before scaring up another 53.12 million fans in KC’s revenge game the following year.
Each of their five showdowns aired on CBS, which rode the new wave of AFC QB dominance to unseat Fox at the top of the ratings heap for the first time in 14 years. Fox’s NFC-heavy “America’s Game of the Week” window had reigned as TV’s top-rated program since American Idol was still paying the freight for the rest of the network’s primetime slate with an average draw of 27.25 million viewers per week.
The Chiefs and Bengals will continue to materialize in CBS’ national NFL window as the season progresses, with Kansas City slated to take on its division rivals in Los Angeles on Sept. 29, while Cincy hosts the surprisingly shaky Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 27. Mahomes is 8-2 against the Chargers, while Burrow’s sole encounter with Philly ended in a 23-23 deadlock.
The AFC’s other must-see QB rivalry resets 11 days before Thanksgiving, when Andy Reid’s charges travel to Buffalo to take on Josh Allen and the Bills. Mahomes is 4-3 lifetime against Allen, including an unblemished 3-0 run in the postseason.
All told, the Chiefs this season are set to appear in no fewer than 12 national TV windows, including an Oct. 7 Monday Night Football date with the score-at-will New Orleans Saints, while the Bengals are slated for seven games in the spotlight. Buffalo has eight national slots lined up.
The NFL’s megabucks window returns this weekend with a battle between two of the league’s most well-compensated quarterbacks, as Lamar Jackson and the Ravens head down to Jerry World to take on Dak Prescott’s Cowboys. It’s been four years since Jackson led Baltimore to a 34-17 home win against Dallas; in a season that was regularly unsettled by the COVID-19 pandemic, that unusual Tuesday night game averaged 13.54 million viewers on Fox.
