Bears-Packers on Thanksgiving Night is 2nd Biggest NBC Prime Time Game Ever

LOS ANGELES - The Chicago Bears’ down-to-the-wire 17-13 victory over the Green Bay Packers last night on NBC’s Sunday Night Football on Thanksgiving night averaged 27.8 million viewers, to rank as NBC’s second-most watched NFL regular-season game since acquiring the SNF package in 2006.

The game is behind only the 30.3 million for the Dallas-Washington, Week 17 “win-and-in” game in 2012. The game is also the NFL’s most-watched Thanksgiving primetime game ever, topping by 21% last year’s game (22.9 million viewers for Seattle’s victory over San Francisco), according to fast national data released today by The Nielsen Company. The NFL introduced the Thanksgiving primetime game in 2006.

The Bears-Packers game which was the 191st meeting in the NFL’s most-played rivalry, posted a 13.8/28 fast national rating – up 21% from the 11.4/23 for Seahawks-49ers last year. The Adult 18-49 rating increased 22% from last year’s holiday primetime game, averaging a 9.0 in the demo (vs. a 7.4 in 2014).

The Packers’ halftime ceremony honoring Brett Favre (10:15-10:30 p.m. ET), which featured a memorable appearance by Hall of Fame Green Bay quarterback Bart Starr, averaged 28.2 million viewers.