The Super Bowl can be a great game or a bad game, a dramatic struggle or a laugher. And viewership hardly wavers.

Seattle’s 43-8 dissection of Denver on Sunday night tied for the third-biggest blowout in Super Bowl history, yet an average of 111.5 million people watched, more than any single television show in United States history. The previous record of 111.4 million was set two years ago when the Giants beat New England, 21-17. That made sports sense: The Giants won that game on a touchdown with about a minute left.

But Sunday’s game was a rout and a dud. The competitive aspect appeared to have ended with the errant snap on the Broncos’ first possession. This is where sports sense ends.

The Super Bowl long ago stopped being regarded as a season-ending football game. It defies predictions that smaller-market teams (Seattle is the 13th-ranked television market, Denver the 17th) cannot sustain big national audiences. It overwhelms, for a few hours, concerns about the potential neurological effects of concussions.