The Cincinnati Bengals must be licking their wounds today after the hard metal savaging they experiencing at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football.
Ripped apart 27-3, the Bengals are now 0-4 while the Steelers finally scored a much-needed win led by Mason Rudolph stepping into the QB role for Ben Roethlisberger, who is out for the season with an injury. The third round 2018 draft pick completed 24 of his 28 passes for 229 yards and a pair of touchdowns in what was just his second NFL start.
.@steelers QB Mason Rudolph got it DONE last night:
✅ 24/28
✅ 229 yards
✅ 2 TDs @Rudolph2Mason | #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/CitYl66M4S
— NFL (@NFL) October 1, 2019
Certainly, two winless teams squaring off on ESPN lhad a drama of its own. Though to be fair, by the start of the second half it was pretty obvious Pittsburgh was going to be the one to break a losing streak.
The Steelers’ victory saw the Disney-owned sports net snag a 7.6 in metered market ratings, a mixed-bag result. Week-to-week, the game was up 4% in the early metrics from the Chicago Bears’ win over the Washington Redskins on September 23. Year-to-year, however, the blowout fell 16% in the metered markets versus with the comparable October 1, 2018 matchup. The latter game saw the then still-unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs inch to a 27-23 victory over the Denver Broncos. In the final numbers, that 2018 Chiefs’ win drew 13.2 million viewers and a 4.6 rating in the key demo.
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If the metered market results prove indicative, the audience of 10.4 million and the 3.7 18-49 rating last week’s Bears’ victory eventually pulled in will likely be close to the final numbers last night’s game will get. We’ll update with the final MNF numbers when we get them.
In the meantime, another stat: Last night’s Steelers-Bengals game peaked with an 8.7 metered market rating from 9:15-9:30 PM ET.
For more math, looking at the team’s own local TV markets, the game drew a 10.2 rating on ESPN and a 14.9 rating on WLWT-NBC in Cincinnati for a combined 25.1 rating. In Pittsburgh, where the game was played, the matchup scored an 11.9 rating on ESPN and a 28.9 rating on WTAE-ABC for a melded 40.8 rating.
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