Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles speaks with Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs after … [+]
Monday night features a rematch of Super Bowl LVII. That epic contest between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs was the third highest-scoring Super Bowl of all time.
Beyond serving as the sequel to that exciting 38-35 Chiefs victory, there are juicy subplots. The team with the best record in the AFC (the 7-2 Chiefs) hosts the team with the best record in in the NFC (the 8-1 Eagles), the Kelce brothers face off and Andy Reid goes against his old team.
“It’s going to be a great game,” said Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the MVP of the Super Bowl LVII.
It’s such a great matchup that there’s a good chance it could become the highest-rated Monday Night Football game ever for ESPN. The network bought the rights to the broadcast in 2005 for about $1.1 billion.
Both of ESPN’s highest-rated Monday Night Football broadcasts have involved Aaron Rodgers.
His Week One start from this year is the current record holder. A total of 22,644,000 viewers (across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN+, NFL+, ESPN Deportes) watched Rodgers make his New York Jets debut at home against the Buffalo Bills.
Rodgers, of course, tore his Achilles tendon early in the contest, but nonetheless excitement over his Big Apple debut allowed the game to surpass the previous record for the 2009 Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings game, which featured Brett Favre vs. his former team led by Rodgers.
The 30-23 Vikings win in the Favre Revenge Game drew 21.8 million viewers.
Monday’s contest will feature another luminary going against his old team.
Reid, the Chiefs head coach, served in the same role for the Eagles from 1999 to 2012. From Reid’s time there, owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman remain — along with three key players (Fletcher Cox, Jason Kelce and Brandon Graham) Reid drafted.
“I’m so close with a lot of people there,” Reid said.
One of the players he drafted, Jason Kelce, is, of course, the older brother of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
The brothers have rocketed to stardom in part due to their popular podcast — and also Travis hanging out with Taylor Swift, who grew up 60 miles from Philadelphia. Travis’ connection to Swift has increased his fame exponentially and only will add to the eyeballs for Monday’s game.
Travis spent the previous week (his bye week) visiting her in South America while Jason appeared on Thursday Night Football’s broadcast during the bye.
The brothers’ last game against each other also was a ratings hit.
Super Bowl LVII drew 115.1 million viewers, making it the most watched Super Bowl in history.
That game bested the 2015 contest between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, which raked in 114,442,000 viewers, though fewer streaming options were available than for Chiefs-Eagles.
Perhaps Monday night’s game serves as a preview for another Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl.
If the season ended now, both would be the No. 1 seeds in their respective conferences, which was how the regular season ended last year.
The winner of the rematch not only will help bolster its playoff seeding, but that team also likely will be deemed the NFL’s best.
“A big game on Monday night against a heck of a football team,” Chiefs defensive line coach Joe Cullen said, “we know what’s at stake here.”
