The Kansas City Chiefs' hopes of playing meaningful football this season weren't the only thing crushed in Week 13. As it turns out, the Chiefs' visit to Jerry's World to face the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day set all manner of viewership records.
While Thanksgiving Day brought nothing but complaints from Chiefs Kingdom, the NFL and CBS were grateful for the cornucopia of viewers provided by K.C and Dallas. Projections for the game's audience were already high, but even optimistic guesses fell short of the actual results.
According to Richard Deitsch of The Athletic, the Chiefs-Cowboys broadcast drew 57.2 million viewers. Per Deitsch, that broadcast thumped the previous record, which was another Cowboys game against the New York Giants on Thanksgiving Day in 2022. That contest drew 42 million viewers.
While Chiefs versus Cowboys was always going to be one of the single biggest regular-season draws, the volume of viewers is interesting when considering the actual products involved. The Chiefs and Cowboys are both middling teams in 2025, franchises with Lombardi Trophies in the rearview mirror and dim playoff hopes for the coming winter.
The Chiefs-Cowboys broadcast set NFL viewership records even if the script going in wasn't all that exciting.
The Chiefs came into the game at 6-5 sitting three spots outside of the final wild card slot in the AFC playoff picture. The Cowboys faced an even grimmer picture in the NFC due to the level of competition in '25. The numbers say that this year's biggest game (at least so far) in terms of audience interest will have been between two teams that didn't even make the postseason.
Perhaps the drama involved is what made the game so intriguing. Holidays are always ripe for sitting around and watching football, of course, but the cruise control button no longer works on the Chiefs' console. Instead of sleeping through the regular season with the only drama centered aroudn whether or not they would get a first-round bye, K.C. faces very real questions about whether or not they're good or not.
The competitive nature of the game also helped sustain high broadcast numbers. The final score was only a three-point deficit, and both teams scored a combined 60 points. Four touchdown passes from Patrick Mahomes is always going to excite (or frustrate) fans, and the only downside was the pitiful officiating on display for 60 minutes. Then again, as much as fans love to complain about refs, perhaps that was a boost as well.
The Chiefs came out of Week 13 limping, but the NFL did not. The record numbers are a sign that the league is as hot as ever, even if the typical contenders are falling flat.