The death of the NFL as a television ratings juggernaut narrative is aging about as well as those "Aaron Rodgers is as good as Brian Hoyer now" pieces from a couple months back.
After a regular season in which ratings dipped for some wretched primetime tilts, the postseason sees the NFL back in its customary place of peerless dominance.
According to Variety, the Packers' insta-classic win over the Cowboys drew a massive 28.2 overnight household rating, a figure that surpasses even Game 7 of the Cubs-Indians World Series, which drew 40 million viewers in November.
FOX, which also aired that Cubs Game 7 triumph, announced that the Packers-Cowboys set a new bar in the business.
Steelers-Chiefs was moved to primetime when a phantom ice storm prompted the NFL to shift the game out of its early afternoon time slot. One wonders if this primetime ratings success will have NFL officials considering making the primetime spot permanent in the future.
The only negative for the league? The Cowboys' crushing loss moves them off the grid until next September, ending any dreams of a Cowboys-PatriotsSuper Bowl matchup that would garner enough ratings to shatter the space-time continuum.
We imagine the league will find the courage to fight on.