ESPN’s victory formation came with a flag on the play. The Worldwide Leader touted its audience for the “Monday Night Football” clash between the Cardinals and Cowboys as the “second-highest Week 9 audience since 2011,

The release makes no mention of the comparison to last year's Week 9 audience. And for good reason. Even without the Nielsen Big Data + Panel bump, Bucs-Chiefs in Week 9 2024 averaged 20.6 million. That makes this year's Week 9audience a 21.4-percent reduction from Week 9 a year ago.