Saddled with a fairly weak schedule, “Monday Night Football” stumbled to a four-year low on ESPN.



Seventeen regular season NFL telecasts averaged an 8.2 U.S. rating and 12.8 million viewers on ESPN, down 2% in ratings and 3% in viewership from last year (8.4, 13.3M), and down 10% and 13%, respectively, from 2010 (9.1, 14.6M).

This marks the lowest-rated and least-viewed “Monday Night Football” season since 2008 (7.6, 12.0M).

Part of the problem this season was a second-half schedule that featured several sub-.500 teams. The final five weeks of the season included the 3-7 Panthers against the 2-8 Eagles (7.0, 10.8M), the 6-7 Jets against the 4-9 Titans (6.6, 10.1M), and the 4-10 Lions facing the NFC leading Falcons (6.0, 9.7M).

Not surprisingly, the highest rated and most-viewed “MNF” game of the season was the only one the feature the Cowboys — Bears/Cowboys in Week 4 (10.5, 16.6M). The second-highest rated was the controversial Packers/Seahawks game in Week 3 (10.3), and the second-most viewed was Giants/Washington in Week 13 (16.2M).

On the other end of the spectrum, the previously-mentioned Falcons/Lions game in Week 16 was the lowest rated and least-viewed game of the season (6.0, 9.7M). The second-lowest rating was a 6.6 for both Jets/Titans in Week 15 and Lions/Bears in Week 7. The Week 7 game aired opposite Game 7 of the NLCS on FOX and a presidential debate.

Despite the four-year low, “Monday Night Football” was still the dominant television program of the year on cable television. In every week of the season, “MNF” won the night among adults 18-34 and all three key male demographics (18-34, 18-49 and 25-54).

Ratings/Viewership For NFL on ESPN

2012 regular season

WK # Date Away Home Net Rating Viewers 1 Mon., 9/10/12 Bengals Ravens ESPN 7.0 10.9M Chargers Raiders ESPN 6.8 10.5M 2 Mon., 9/17/12 Broncos Falcons ESPN 10.0 15.5M 3 Mon., 9/24/12 Packers Seahawks ESPN 10.3 16.2M 4 Mon., 10/1/12 Bears Cowboys ESPN 10.5 16.6M 5 Mon., 10/8/12 Texans Jets ESPN 9.0 14.0M 6 Mon., 10/15/12 Broncos Chargers ESPN 8.2 12.8M 7 Mon., 10/22/12 Lions Bears ESPN 6.6 10.7M 8 Mon., 10/29/12 Niners Cardinals ESPN 6.8 10.7M 9 Mon., 11/5/12 Eagles Saints ESPN 8.2 12.9M 10 Mon., 11/12/12 Chiefs Steelers ESPN 8.2 12.8M 11 Mon., 11/19/12 Bears Niners ESPN 7.9 12.5M 12 Mon., 11/26/12 Panthers Eagles ESPN 7.0 10.8M 13 Mon., 12/3/12 Giants Washington ESPN 10.2 16.2M 14 Mon., 12/10/12 Texans Patriots ESPN 9.0 14.5M 15 Mon., 12/17/12 Jets Titans ESPN 6.6 10.1M 16 Sat., 12/22/12 Falcons Lions ESPN 6.0 9.7M

(Season averages from ESPN)