The Monday Night Football ratings from the other night are down a good bit from last years MNF openers, and I have a theory. You would think people would rather watch AZ-SF over SD-OAK, but that wasn’t the case….

ESPN earned a 9.7 rating, down 14.2% from a 11.3 last year. The net averaged a 9.9 rating from 8:00-11:00pm, which translates into an 8.4 national rating, the highest of any net, broadcast or cable, for the night in primetime. The two games delivered the net’s two highest ratings of the year, as well as the second- and third-largest household audiences on cable this year, behind only Disney Channel’s “High School Musical 2”, which averaged 17.2 million viewers on August 17.- SBD

It’s all really irrelevant when you have the 2nd and 3rd most viewers on cable this year, but I think there might a bigger reason for this…..

The Announcing team.

Think about it. How many regular Football fans watched the first quarter of the 2nd game, couldn’t understand a word the trio was saying, and just said “F” it….I’m going to bed? I bet it was a lot. The San Diego game last year was a blowout (27-0) in which Oakland proceeded to put up 129 yards. You’d think people would have turned that game off, but they didn’t. It was 13-0 at halftime. I think Nessler and Vermeil probably did a great job of keeping people tuned in.

I could be completely off base considering the difference between viewers was down 19% for the late game, and obviously not all of those folks tuned out because of the Mikes, but I don’t think it’s all that far fetched and I really didn’t have anything else to write this morning. If someone wants to agree or disagree feel free to in the comments.