‘Monday Night Football’ doubleheader draws 19 million viewers during overlap

An average of 19 million American viewers watched “Monday Night Football” during the overlap between the two games, ESPN announced Tuesday.

The early matchup between the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills kicked off on ESPN at 7:30 p.m., while the late game between the visiting Washington Commanders and Cincinnati Bengals started on ABC at 8:15 p.m.

Between 8:15 and 10:30 p.m., both games were played simultaneously. Peak viewership happened between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m., with 20.4 million watching, ESPN said.

The Bills routed the Jaguars 47-10 behind a four-touchdown performance from quarterback Josh Allen. After their game signed off, an average of 15.2 million people stuck around to see the conclusion of the Commanders-Bengals contest. 

In the nightcap, rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels led Washington to a 38-33 road win, with ESPN pointing out on the broadcast that the game was the first since 1940 where neither team had a punt or turnover.

Three more “Monday Night Football” doubleheaders are scheduled for this NFL season. This upcoming week, the traveling Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins will have the early slot on ESPN, with the Seattle Seahawks visiting the Detroit Lions in the later slot on ABC.

In the seventh week of the season on Oct. 21, the visiting Baltimore Ravens will play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on ESPN, with the Los Angeles Chargers at Arizona on the ESPN+ streaming platform.

Finally, on Dec. 16, the visiting Chicago Bears will have an NFC North Division matchup against the Minnesota Vikings on ABC, while the Atlanta Falcons have a road matchup against the Los Vegas Raiders on ESPN.

Those two games fall into the NFL’s flexible scheduling window for “Monday Night Football” from weeks 12 through 17, so the matchups could be changed at the league’s discretion.