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Bears-Seahawks draws 16.4M viewers, becomes most-watched ESPN-only "Monday Night Football" game since 2019
Monday Night Football's Week 8 NFC heavyweight showdown between the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks drew 16.4M viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and NFL+. The audience ranks as Monday Night Football's most-watched ESPN-only game since November 2019, a span of 76 games airing on ESPN. Bears-Seahawks is also Monday Night Football's third most-watched Week 8 game of the ESPN era (2006-present).
Complementing the traditional telecast, Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli (ESPN2) drew 864K viewers, peaking at 1M viewers shortly before halftime.
Eight weeks into ESPN's Super Bowl LXI season, Monday Night Football is up 22% compared with the same point in 2025, averaging 18.7M viewers.
Monday Night Countdown averaged 1.7M viewers across ESPN and NFL Network leading into the game, up 17% from the 2025 Week 8 edition. Season to date, the pregame show is up 24% compared with 2025.
Note: An ESPN-only game refers to a game without an ABC simulcast.
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel, including over-the-air (OTA) viewership
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