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The NFL might be king in America, but that doesn’t mean the league’s ratings are immune to fluctuating on a weekly basis.
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Week 3 of the NFL season wrapped up with the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles on “Monday Night Football.” Although this game wasn’t really that close, ESPN landed an average audience of 22.6 million viewers. It marked the second-largest Week 3 audience for ESPN since it acquired the rights to “Monday Night Football.”
One week later, ESPN’s viewership for “Monday Night Football” suffered a massive drop. According to ESPN, this past Monday’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints had an average audience of 11.9 million.
The buildup surrounding the Falcons-Saints game was that it marked the 20th anniversary of the reopening of the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, the product on the field wasn’t very good.
Bijan Robinson and the Falcons ran all over the Saints en route to a 45-24 victory. Michael Penix Jr. also had an efficient performance, completing 15-of-20 pass attempts for 223 yards with a touchdown.
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MNF should get a huge bump in ratings for Week 5.
A huge dip in ratings might force other sports leagues to panic, but the NFL shouldn’t worry considering their “Monday Night Football” game for Week 5 is shaping up to be epic.
Week 5 will conclude with Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills squaring off against Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams.
We have no doubt the Bills and Rams will get the NFL’s Monday night ratings back on track.
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This story was originally published October 9, 2026 at 11:28 AM.