Just like last year, I'm taking a look at how many times teams are featured in the National Primetime games, including Monday Night, Sunday Night, Thanksgiving, Opening Night, but not including the NFL Network games or flex-Sunday games because they are not national/set in stone. I've also added in parenthesis the change from last year.
Cowboys 5 (+2)
Colts 4 (+1)
Packers 4 (0)
Bears 3 (0)
Cardinals 3 (+2)
Chargers 3 (+1)
Giants 3 (0)
Patriots 3 (0)
Redskins 3 (+1)
Steelers 3 (-1)
Titans 3 (+1)
Broncos 2 (0)
Dolphins 2 (+2)
Eagles 2 (-2)
Falcons 2 (+2)
Raiders 2 (+1)
Ravens 2 (+1)
Saints 2 (0)
Vikings 2 (0)
49ers 1 (0)
Bills 1 (0)
Browns 1 (-3)
Jets 1 (0)
Lions 1 (0)
Panthers 1 (0)
Texans 1 (0)
Bengals 0 (0)
Bucs 0 (-2)
Chiefs 0 (0)
Jaguars 0 (-2)
Rams 0 (0)
Seahawks 0 (-2)
Steelers win the Super Bowl and lose a primetime game. The Browns were the biggest loser, while the Cowboys, Dolphins, and Falcons all gained 2 more primetime spots compared to last year. For the Bengals, Chiefs, and Rams it's "maybe next year, again."
So now that I have three years of data, I can look at larger samples. So before I add up the most popular primetime teams, I came up with the teams that, if I were the schedule maker, I would have picked the most based on star power and strength of team: Colts, Pats, Steelers, Cowboys, Giants, and Chargers. So let's see who actually got the most:
Primetime Games 2007-2009
Cowboys 13
Packers 11
Colts 10
Steelers 10
Bears 9
Eagles 9
Giants 9
Patriots 9
Broncos 8
Chargers 8
Saints 8
Titans 7
Ravens 6
Redskins 6
Browns 5
Cardinals 5
Vikings 5
49ers 4
Falcons 4
Seahawks 4
Bills 3
Dolphins 3
Jaguars 3
Jets 3
Lions 3
Raiders 3
Bengals 2
Bucs 2
Panthers 2
Texans 2
Chiefs 0
Rams 0
I'm surprised the Bears have gotten more love than LT and the Chargers, but the top of the heap is about what I expected. I can't complain about the Chiefs schedule this year since they went 2-14, but I don't think it's too much to ask for 1 primetime game for every team once a year. Or for the Chiefs and Rams, once every three years.
would you like the national embarrassment every year like i have? would you like people complaining that you're even on national TV because you're a laughingstock? i'm glad the lions have the thanksgiving tradition because at least there's one game that i know i'll be able to watch of theirs because i live in israel, but if i lived near detroit or in illinois like i used to, i'd be happy just seeing the games they're randomly on locally. for example, in college, it was enough just watching them when they played the bears twice a year. they're awful. i want to see the good teams.
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