43.2 million
The Bears victory over New Orleans made Fox Sports and the NFL big winners Sunday. The game attracted an average audience of 43.2 million viewers for Fox, the most for the NFC Championship since 1997 when the Green Bay-Carolina game pulled in 46.3 million. Fox also recorded its biggest one-year ratings increase for an NFC title game. The game did a 25.1 rating, up 21 percent over the 20.8 rating for last year’s Seattle-Carolina game (one national ratings point is worth more than 1 million homes).
46.1
Locally, the game did a 46.1 rating and a 74 share in the Chicago area (one local ratings point is worth more than 34,000 homes, and share is the percentage of televisions tuned to the broadcast). To put the local Bears rating in context, Game 4 of the White Sox’s World Series clincher in 2005 did a 42 rating. The Bears still trailed Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, which did an astounding 52.1 rating for Michael Jordan’s last game as a Bull.
100
The NFL Network plans to air more than 100 hours of Super Bowl-related shows, with 55 hours live.
73.9
The lowest season rating for a Super Bowl quarterback since Denver’s John Elway (73.7) in 1990. And that honor belongs to … well, it ain’t Peyton Manning. That would be the Bears’ Rex Grossman. By contrast, Manning led the league with a 101.0 mark. The 27.1-point difference between opposing passers is the fifth largest in Super Bowl history.
$40,000
Some mementos will cost a good deal more than tickets to the game. The NFL is selling 400 Super Bowl XL books–autographed by 34 of the 35 Super Bowl MVPs–for a whopping $40,000 apiece. Official programs are $15, adult T-shirts start at $20, polo shirts are $55, jerseys are $125, and helmets cost $280.
5
The Bears feature five former Miami Dolphins, including three starters: LT John St. Clair, TE Desmond Clark and DE Adewale Ogunleye. Special teams Pro Bowler Brendon Ayanbadejo spent two seasons in Miami, and QB Brian Griese started five games in 2003. The Colts have no ex-Fins.
7 of 9
No, not the slinky Star Trek Borg babe (dream on, Bears fans). That’s the AFC’s record against NFC teams in the past nine Super Bowls. AFC teams also went 40-24 against the NFC this season. Maybe that’s why some fans and media have nicknamed the NFC Championship the third-place game.
PAYBACK
Jimmy Greenfield gets his just desserts for picking the Saints over the Bears. Watch the video and read more at weblogs.redeyechicago.com/this(underscor e)blog(underscore)starts(underscore)at(underscore)11/.
