For years, and through Dan Campbell's first couple seasons as head coach, the Detroit Lions were locked into the 1 p.m. ET window on Sunday afternoons. With success has come more primetime/late Sunday afternoon window standalone games, and this year's 15-2 team had 10 such games during the regular season.
According to Anthony Crupi of Sportico, the Lions were the most-watched NFL team during the regular season and that was of course reflected by the viewership of their national tv games.
"Over the course of 10 wild and woolly national TV dates, Campbell’s charges scared up 22.6 million viewers per game, edging the perennial ratings champs in Dallas by some 175,000 impressions."
As expected, per Crupi, the local television ratings for the Lions went up notably this season.
"In a season where only nine teams managed to draw a bigger audience in their home markets, Dan Campbell’s Lions saw their local ratings jump 10%. Only one other team, the Houston Texans, managed a bigger year-over-year boost."
Crupi highlighted the Lions' top-scoring offense (33.2 points per game) and Campbell's aggressiveness (151 fourth-down attempts over his four seasons as head coach) as chief reasons they are a must-watch. He also nicely called out Tedy Bruschi's lame criticism of Campbell, in light of the Lions converting two-thirds of their fourth-down attempts this season (22-for-33).
The Lions are saving NFL fans from the same-old, same-old
Crupi noted how much national tv exposure the Dallas Cowboys get every year, as the networks tap into the "love them or hate them, you'll watch them" element that franchise has. Crupi also highlighted another team and a more recent NFL storyline the Lions offer a refreshing respite from.
"Perhaps the thing that makes these Lions such a compelling story is that they haven’t been around long enough for everyone to have gotten sick of them yet. If, according to a Taylor Swift song I had to Google, familiarity breeds discontent, then the Chiefs’ watery ubiquity may have unearthed a collective desire to move on to something new, something less workaday. Even Jake from State Farm seems bored with these guys, and he gets paid to hang out with them."
The Lions are getting more attention nationally, and players (as well as Campbell) are starting to appear in television ads. But it's not so ubiquitous that it's overwhelming or annoying, while we've been beaten over the head with the Chiefs.
Time will tell how long the Lions last as a compelling story, before it becomes routine or even mundane. But for now, and for the foreseeable future, Campbell and his team are a saving grace for NFL fans who've tired of seeing the same old teams in the spotlight.