Chiefs appear to have overtaken Cowboys as America’s Team: Patrick Mahomes and Co. getting sky-high TV numbers

The Dallas Cowboys have long been known as America’s Team, but it might be time for them to hand that title over to the Kansas City Chiefs. The two-time reigning Super Bowl champs have suddenly turned into America’s favorite team to watch, at least based on the NFL’s television ratings so far this season. 

The NFL released the viewership numbers for the five most watched games through the first 11 weeks and FOUR of them involved the Chiefs. 

Let’s check out the numbers: 

1. WEEK 11: Bills 30-21 over Chiefs (CBS): 31.2 million viewers
2. WEEK 1: Chiefs 27-20 over Ravens (NBC): 28.0 million viewers
3. WEEK 2: Chiefs 26-25 over Bengals (CBS): 27.9 million viewers
4. WEEK 3: Ravens 28-25 over Cowboys (Fox): 27.3 million viewers
5. WEEK 7: Chiefs 28-18 over 49ers (Fox): 27.1 million viewers

As you can see, the Chiefs have the top three games and four of the top five. 

The game between the Bills and the Chiefs wasn’t just the most watched game of the season, it was one of the most watched games over the past 17 years. Excluding Thanksgiving and Christmas games, it was the most watched regular-season game on CBS since Patriots-Colts in 2007. 

So far, 2024 has been the year of the Chiefs. Not only do they have four of the five most watched games, but back in February, their Super Bowl LVIII win over the San Francisco 49ers drew 123.4 million viewers, which made it the most watched Super Bowl broadcast of all-time. That game was on CBS. 

On the Cowboys’ end, they’ve been borderline unwatchable this year. Not only have they lost five straight games, but they also don’t have Dak Prescott, who’s out for the season. The Cowboys are always a huge draw on Thanksgiving, but they’ll be playing another struggling team in the Giants, so it will be interesting to see what kind of viewership number that game gets. 

As for the Chiefs, although they’ve been a popular team to watch this year, they probably won’t be drawing a huge TV rating for their Week 12 game and that’s mostly because they’re playing the Carolina Panthers.