- Marks second best Week 3 of ESPN’s Monday Night Football era (since 2006)
- Adds to record-setting start for Monday Night Football’s Super Bowl LXI season with viewership up 20% through Week 3
Monday Night Football’s Week 3 matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears delivered 22.6 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, ESPN Deportes and NFL+, the second largest Week 3 crowd in the ESPN era (since 2006). Monday’s telecast is only topped by Detroit Lions-Baltimore Ravens in 2025 with 22.8 million viewers, last season’s most-watched Monday Night Football game overall.
Week 3’s Eagles-Bears telecast also lands among the largest audiences Monday Night Football has ever produced, ranking as the sixth-most-watched game across ESPN’s 21 seasons of the franchise — joining Week 1’s Denver Broncos-Kansas City Chiefs opener among the largest crowds ever.
Three weeks into the Super Bowl LXI season, Monday Night Football is up 20% compared to the same point in 2025, averaging 21.8 million viewers. The season-opening Broncos-Chiefs telecast and Week 2’s New York Giants-Los Angeles Rams matchup each set records of their own, becoming the most-watched Week 1 and Week 2 games, respectively, in the ESPN era — positioning the franchise for one of its strongest starts on record.
Setting the table for Eagles-Bears, Monday Night Countdown averaged 1.8 million viewers across ESPN and NFL Network, up 7% from last season’s Week 3 show and its third consecutive week of year-over-year growth this season.
ESPN’s Super Bowl LXI season continues
Three weeks in, Monday Night Football’s record-setting audiences underscore the strength of ESPN’s most expansive NFL season to date, a 29-game slate that builds toward Super Bowl LXI. Week 4 brings NFL Network’s regular season debut from London for Indianapolis Colts-Washington Commanders on Sunday, followed by Atlanta Falcons-New Orleans Saints on ESPN’s Monday Night Football, honoring the 20th anniversary of the Saints’ return to the Superdome following Hurricane Katrina.
In 2025, Monday Night Football aired four games during the season’s first three weeks, including a Week 2 doubleheader. In 2026, Monday Night Football aired three games through the season’s first three weeks. Records are based on Monday Night Football telecasts played on Monday nights only; games played on non-Monday nights, including Week 18, are excluded from all comparisons.
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel