The highly-anticipated primetime game between the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers drew strong viewership numbers.
Per Dino-Ray Ramos of Deadline, the Sunday Night Football game on NBC reached 14.18 million viewers, finishing with a 3.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
The Bills defeated the Steelers 26-15 to move to 10-3 on the season, moving them that much closer to their first division title since 1995. With the loss, Pittsburgh dropped to 11-2 on the season.
Buffalo now holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Pittsburgh. If they finish with the same record, the Bills will finish as the higher seed in the AFC.
The loss dropped the Steelers down to the No. 2 seed. The Kansas City Chiefs, who sit at 12-1, are now in position to claim the top seed and lone first-round bye in the conference.
This marked the first Sunday Night Football game on NBC in Buffalo since 2007. No fans were present, of course, but this will nonetheless go down as one of the defining wins for the franchise of the 21st century.
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The Bills and Steelers also played on Sunday Night Football last season, in Week 15 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. The league flexed it in favor of the Los Angeles Chargers-Minnesota Vikings tilt, which was moved to the late afternoon. Buffalo won that game 17-10, en route to their second playoff berth in three years.
Buffalo is now two games ahead of the Miami Dolphins for the AFC East division crown. Their victory, coupled with the New England' Patriots loss to the Los Angeles Rams, assures that there will be a different AFC East winner for the first time since 2008. Bill Belichick and company won it every year from 2009 to 2019.
Despite the loss and the sluggish performances in recent weeks, the Steelers are on their way to clinching their first playoff berth in three years. There's a good chance we'll see them and the Bills face off again in January, too.
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