By Mummy Grace 
The Sunday Night Football regular-season finale between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions drew an enormous viewership, with nearly 30 million people tuning in. This game was particularly significant as it was the first-ever NFL regular-season contest between teams both boasting 14 wins. While the Lions dominated the second half to win 31-9, the dramatic stakes of the game kept fans glued to their screens.
On average, 28.5 million viewers watched the Vikings-Lions clash on NBC and Peacock, making it the third-most-watched NFL regular-season game, trailing only the 2012 Washington vs. Dallas game (30.5 million) and the 2024 season opener between the Ravens and Chiefs (29.2 million). The game garnered 24% more viewers than the 2023 regular-season finale between the Bills and Dolphins, cementing its place as one of the most-watched primetime shows of the year.
For context, the viewership numbers for this regular-season game rival those of some of the most iconic championship games in other sports, such as Michael Jordan’s final game in the 1998 NBA Finals and Game 7 of the 2017 MLB World Series between the Dodgers and Astros. The fact that an NFL regular-season game attracted such massive ratings speaks volumes about the popularity and power of the league.