Crucial Vikings-Lions Game Delivers Titanic Ratings for NBC's 'Sunday Night Football'

NBC says it's the third-highest ratings for SNF since 2006.

Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (26) celebrates with wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown (14), Tim Patrick (17) and Jameson Williams (9) and tight end Sam LaPorta (87) in the end zone after running for a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings in the first quarter at Ford Field. / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

NBC knew it had a monster on its hands when it flexed the Minnesota Vikings-Detroit Lions game into Sunday Night Football and, even though they didn't get 60 full minutes of competitive football, the offering still drew historic numbers.

The final game of the regular season is the most-watched Sunday Night Football season finale since 2012, with an average for 28.5 viewers across broadcast and digital platforms, NBC announced on Monday afternoon.

This makes it the third-most watched game in the history of the NBC SNF package, which began in 2006. The 28.5 million figure trails only Washington-Dallas in Week 17 of 2012 and Kansas City's Kickoff Game victory over the Baltimore Ravens earlier this year.

Vikings-Lions represented a 24 percent increase over SNF's final offering last year in which the Buffalo Bills secured the AFC East title over the Miami Dolphins.

Considering all that was at stake at Ford Field—both the NFC North and the conference's No. 1 seed were decided—these juicy numbers were to be expected. It's worth wondering how much higher they'd be if it had been a one-score thriller.

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