Despite facing a strong performing World Series game, a battle of undefeated teams lifted Sunday Night Football.

The Week 8 Packers/Broncos Sunday Night Football game drew a 13.0 rating and 23.0 million viewers on NBC, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 19% in ratings and 22% in viewership from Packers/Saints last year (10.9, 18.8M) and up 33% and 36%, respectively, from Packers/Vikings in 2013 (9.8, 16.9M).

The Broncos’ win ranks as the most-watched primetime NFL game in Week 8 of the season in 22 years — since Vikings/Bears on ABC’s Monday Night Football in 1993 (23.3M) — and the top SNF game opposite the World Series since NBC acquired rights.

It does not rank among NBC’s top games of the season, however, ranking just seventh in ratings and sixth in viewership out of the network’s nine telecasts. It also finished well below the last meeting of unbeatens this late in the season, a 2007 matchup between the Patriots and Colts that had a 20.1 and 33.8 million on CBS.

Competition from the World Series no doubt kept the game from earning stronger numbers. Packers/Broncos topped Royals/Mets Game 5 by 30% in ratings (13.0 to 10.0), 34% in viewership (23.0M to 17.2M) and 61% in adults 18-49 (8.2 to 5.1) — the fifth time in the past six head-to-head meetings that SNF has topped the World Series. Yet those results were the strongest for any baseball game opposite SNF in more than eight years, since Game 7 of the 2007 ALCS had an 11.7, 19.2 million and a 5.5 in the demo.

As noted above, Sunday’s game had an 8.2 rating among adults 18-49, up 16% from last year (7.1) and up 30% from 2013 (6.3).

NBC has now averaged a 13.8 rating and 23.6 million viewers for NFL coverage this season, up 8% in ratings and viewership from last year (12.8, 21.8M), and the highest averages for any primetime NFL package at this point of the season since 1997 (14.6) and 1996 (23.9M), respectively. The network has also averaged an 8.7 rating among adults 18-49, up 6% from last year.

(Sun. numbers from NBC)