ESPN earned a 7.6 overnight rating for the Saints' 31-15 win over the Bears on "MNF" last night, down 22% from a 9.7 for the Week 15 Ravens-Lions matchup in '13. The game, which featured a pair of 5-8 teams, drew a 47.9 rating in New Orleans (16.7 on ESPN, 31.2 on WDSU-NBC) and a 23.0 in Chicago (6.8 on ESPN, 16.2 on WLS-ABC) (Josh Carpenter, Staff Writer).
CHUCKY CHEESE: ESPN "MNF" analyst Jon Gruden has agreed to an extension with the net for the remainder of the company's current NFL rights deal through the '21 season. Gruden joined ESPN in May '09 and has earned four Sports Emmy nominations in the Best Analyst category (ESPN). During last night’s Saints-Bears game, ESPN’s Mike Tirico said to Gruden, “We’ve had kettlebells that you’ve given us in the booth, we’ve got blenders that you’ve given us in the booth. I’m not giving you these for Christmas. I’m giving them as a thank you gift because ESPN's announcing right now that Jon has agreed to a contract extension. … It means, (I'm) stuck with you for a while. Congratulations pal, that’s awesome news.” Gruden said, “Love working with you. Love football, love the team I'm on and I can’t wait for years to come. I love it, thank you” (“Saints-Bears,” ESPN, 12/15).
STRAIGHT CASH, HOMEY: In Houston, David Barron noted Browns QB Johnny Manziel's debut as a starter Sunday against the Bengals "helped deliver a win for Fox over the Texans-Colts game on CBS in three of the four major TV markets" in Texas. Houston was the only one of four Texas markets where Texans-Colts on CBS "outrated Bengals-Browns on Fox." Bengals-Browns "was a cross-flex game moved from CBS to Fox to boost audience totals." Fox "expanded the game's window" to more than 40% of the U.S. when it was announced Manziel would start (CHRON.com, 12/15).
PATRIOT ACT: Sunday's Dolphins-Patriots game earned a 38.6 rating in the Boston market on WBZ-CBS, the second-highest ever for a 1:00pm ET kickoff, trailing the Dec. 16, 2007, Jets-Patriots game, which earned a 40.4 local number. Sunday's game also was the top-ranked show in the Boston market for the week (Patriots).
