Bears-Vikings was most-watched MNF Week 15 game since 2011

While you wouldn’t think that a game between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings — two teams with losing records, at the time — would be appealing, that didn’t turn away NFL viewers.

In fact, Monday night’s game between the Bears and Vikings was the most-watched Monday Night Football Week 15 game since 2011, garnering 15.9 million viewers across ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes.

With Chicago’s secondary depleted by COVID-19, many expected this to be a blowout that was over early. But that was far from the case thanks to a Bears defense that rose to the occasion, holding the Vikings to 193 total yards of offense — including limiting quarterback Kirk Cousins to 87 yards and receiver Justin Jefferson to 46 receiving yards.

But, as has been the trademark of the Matt Nagy era in Chicago, the Bears committed too many self-inflicted mistakes and struggled to score points on offense. Still, the game was close through the fourth quarter, which kept people watching before Minnesota pulled out a 17-9 victory.

Monday night’s game marked the Bears’ fourth and final prime-time game of the season, where Chicago went 0-4 in games against the Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers and Vikings.

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