The Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 11 prime-time victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, in a rematch of the 2023 Super Bowl, drew a historic number of eyeballs for a regular season Monday Night Football game.
Even without ESPN having Taylor Swift in the Arrowhead Stadium luxury suites to pan to throughout the game, Eagles vs. Chiefs wound up drawing over 29 million viewers across ESPN’s various broadcast platforms: ESPN, ABC, and ESPN+’s feeds of the game.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Monday night’s game was the largest Monday Night Football audience in 27 years, underscoring the drawing power of Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce, and two of the most electrifying teams in the NFL.
The Eagles came roaring back, outscoring the Chiefs 14-0 in the second half to board the plane back to Philadelphia with a 21-17 win, which likely contributed to the audience sticking with the game.
When these same two teams played for the Lombardi Trophy back in February, the 115.1 million viewers marked the largest television audience in Super Bowl history.
Following Monday night’s game, it isn’t difficult to envision the 9-1 Eagles and 7-3 Chiefs potentially being on a collision course for a Super Bowl rematch next February, which likely has NFL executives on Park Avenue salivating.
Given the passionate fanbases in Philadelphia and Kansas City, the star power on both rosters, and the likelihood that because Swift’s Eras tour has a concert on February 10, 2024, in Tokyo, but no show scheduled for Super Bowl Sunday, the world-renowned pop star could in theory be in Las Vegas to support Kelce and draw even more eyeballs to the Super Bowl broadcast.
While the Eagles were the big winners of Monday’s big game, ESPN and the NFL also cashed in a victory, but the encore could be even more lucrative.
Eagles Remain Atop Power Rankings After Win Over Chiefs
Monday night’s victory solidified the Eagles as legitimate Super Bowl favorites, as Philadelphia passed its biggest test of the season to date.
In the latest FanBuzz NFL power rankings, the Eagles remain entrenched in the top spot:
The combination of plays like Jalen Hurts’ perfectly placed deep ball to DeVonta Smith to set up the go-ahead touchdown push in the fourth quarter, and a defense that creates big plays and timely takeaways is starting to make the Eagles’ look unbeatable. Likewise, D’Andre Swift running behind this offensive line looks like the Eagles’ missing ingredient last season. After toppling the Chiefs, the Eagles have now won four straight, including wins over the Dolphins and Cowboys over that span. Philadelphia is battle tested, with some major tests still to come, but are suddenly the team to beat in the entire league.
This has been the most daunting stretch of the Eagles’ schedule, and Philadelphia will have another opportunity to silence their critics and build significant momentum towards a Super Bowl return this Sunday against the suddenly high-flying Buffalo Bills.
Eagles Beat Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs Despite Quirky Stat
Usually, it takes an offense that is clicking and able to keep pace with Mahomes, Kelce and the rest of the Chiefs’ weapons to walk out of Arrowhead victorious.
But that wasn’t exactly the Eagles’ formula on Monday night.
NBCSports Philadelphia’s Reuben Frank pointed out that the Eagles’ Week 11 victory was historic because they pulled it off without the offense firing on all cylinders.
“This was the first game since sacks became an official stat in 1982 that the Eagles won despite allowing five sacks and netting fewer than 240 yards of offense,” Frank wrote. “In fact, league-wide, teams allowing five sacks and gaining fewer than 240 yards are now 11-158 since 2013.”
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Even Without Taylor Swift, Eagles Broke 27-Year Record With Win Over Chiefs