NFL ratings: Cowboys-49ers game delivers monster numbers

It was a bold strategy — pairing America's Team with one of its classic rivals in a marquee time slot — and it paid off huge in NFL ratings. Cowboys vs. 49ers, the centerpiece of "Super Wild Card Weekend" and one of the weirdest games of the season, delivered an impressive number: 41.5 million viewers, the most-watched wild-card game in seven years.

The game also included a corresponding broadcast on Nickelodeon that featured in-game enhancements like gargantuan slime monsters:

The Nickelodeon broadcast drew 1.33 million viewers, a decline from last year's Bears-Saints game (2.1 million) that had 10 million fewer overall viewers. Clearly, young viewers weren't enticed by the prospect of the rematch of two longtime rivals.

Overall, the five weekend games averaged 31 million viewers. (Monday's Rams-Cardinals numbers were not ready as of Wednesday morning.) All five totals marked ratings increases of at least 16 percent over 2020's numbers.

Three of the five games were blowouts, with two — the Bills and Bucs wins — effectively wrapped up before halftime. The fact that they retained strong numbers without competing games is a testament to the strength of postseason football ... and an obvious rebuttal to all the proclamations that the league was doomed when it clashed with former president Donald Trump in the late 2010s.

As always, it's worth remembering that unless you are an advertiser or a broadcaster, NFL ratings have no real impact on your fandom or viewing opportunities. The NFL is in no danger of being relegated to pay-per-view or off-brand channels. However, ratings still provide an interesting metric for the interest of casual, uncommitted NFL fans — exactly the ones the league needs to maintain and build.

The Cowboys' early departure will take a chunk of those casual viewers, but more so than most leagues, the NFL has a national fan base, one that will tune in no matter which teams reach the playoffs. A Cincinnati-San Francisco Super Bowl may not draw the on-field interest of, say, Bucs-Chiefs or Packers-Bills, but any combination of the eight remaining teams will pull in big numbers. As the world returns to something approaching normalcy, NFL ratings are doing the same.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jaybusbee or contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com.