NFL Shocker: AFC & NFC Championship Games Ratings Crash
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
The Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots will clash in the Super Bowl again, 11 years after they gave fans one of the best championship games of all time. The AFC and NFC championship games were filled with drama from start to end.
While the Patriots saw the Denver Broncos miss two field goals and Drake Maye secure the most important first down of his career with a risky run to escape Mile High Stadium with a 10-7 win, the Seahawks had an equally dramatic game.
They waited until the very last play of the game to win. The Los Angeles Rams failed to stop the clock in the final moments of the fourth quarter, ending their chances of advancing to the big game.
As memorable and hard-fought as these games were, fans didn’t tune in as they did in prior years.
The 2025 Conference Championship Games Didn’t Have The Best Viewership
CBS Sports and FOX broadcast the AFC and the NFC championship games, respectively. The novelty of not seeing the Kansas City Chiefs in the conference championship game might have played a role in this season’s ratings. CBS reported an average of 48.618 million viewers for the Patriots-Broncos matchup. It became the most-watched playoff game on any network this season.
The game peaked at 57.759 million viewers. While the number is solid, the Chiefs and Bills set a record with an average viewership of 57.4 million. As for the NFC championship game, it averaged 46.1 million viewers. This was a couple of million more than last year’s duel between the Washington Commanders and the Philadelphia Eagles.
The 2025 season hinted at major changes in the league’s landscape. The Chiefs will have the chance to respond next campaign and perhaps reclaim the throne on the field and in the public’s eye.
