The “wild card” name suggests the unknown or an unpredictable factor, but the NFL’s wild-card weekend is anything but when it comes to viewership.

Last year’s wild-card weekend (six games) averaged 31.4 million viewers, the NFL’s most-watched opening postseason weekend since 2016 (which was four games). The most-watched window of wild-card weekend last year was a matchup between the mega-viewership powers Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys on Fox. That game, won by Green Bay in a rout, drew 40.2 million viewers airing in the 4:30 p.m. ET Sunday window.

What will this year’s wild-card games bring as far as interest? We offer a quick take using a watchability index.

Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles (Sunday, 4:30 p.m. ET, Fox and Fox Deportes)

Watchability ranking: 10 out of 10

The skinny: This is your weekend viewership monster, given both teams are traditional television powers. There should also be plenty of offense — both teams ranked in the top 10 in points scored and total yards — plus an MVP candidate in Eagles running back Saquon Barkley. The game is being played in the most-watched over-the-air linear television window. Everything lines up for massive viewership.

Favorite: Eagles (-4.5)

Viewership prediction: 37 million

Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Rams (Monday, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, ABC, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes, ESPN2 “ManningCast”)

Watchability ranking: 8 out of 10

The skinny: How will the Vikings react after losing the chance at a first-round bye and home-field advantage for the playoffs? They’ll face a rested Matthew Stafford, who threw four touchdowns against them in a 30-20 win on Oct. 25. There are a ton of Pro Bowl-caliber skill position players here, especially at wide receiver. Look for ESPN to inundate you with content all week. The odds (Vikings -1.5) suggest a tight game.

Favorite: Vikings (-1.5)

Viewership prediction: 30 million

Denver Broncos at Buffalo Bills (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS and Paramount+)

Watchability ranking: 7.5 out of 10

The skinny: Any game featuring one of the favorites for the MVP race (Josh Allen) will rate high as far as viewer interest. Buffalo ranks second in the league in points per game at 30.9, and Denver ranks 10th in points at 24.2 points. Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix tossed 29 touchdown passes this season, the second-most by a rookie in NFL history. It’s the first postseason appearance for the Broncos since the 2015 season, a streak of 3,296 days.

Favorite: Bills (-9)

Viewership prediction: 29.5 million

Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, Prime Video)

Watchability ranking: 6.5 out of 10

The skinny: Division rivals often make for interesting theater, but these teams are headed in opposite directions. The Steelers have lost four in a row and look like a mess. The Ravens are on a four-game winning streak. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson has had one of the greatest years in the history of the position. Given the game is on Amazon Prime Video instead of a traditional TV network, you’ll see a couple of million less in viewership here.

Favorite: Ravens (-10)

Viewership prediction: 22 million

Washington Commanders at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Sunday, 8 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, Universo)

Watchability ranking: 6 out of 10

The skinny: This is a sneaky-interesting game, given a star rookie quarterback (Washington’s Jayden Daniels), a reclamation project (Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield) and a great time slot. Last year’s Sunday night wild-card game between the Rams and Detroit Lions drew 32.2 million viewers as Detroit won its first playoff game in 32 years.

Favorite: Bucs (-3)

Viewership prediction: 29 million

Los Angeles Chargers at Houston Texans (Saturday, 4:30 p.m., CBS and Paramount+)

Watchability ranking: 5 out of 10

The skinny: This could be an interesting game, given C.J. Stroud and Justin Herbert have a ton of talent at quarterback and there are some decent skill position players around them (including Nico Collins, J.K. Dobbins and Joe Mixon). But the day and time slot suggest this will be the lowest over-the-air network rating.

Favorite: Chargers (-3)

Viewership prediction: 23 million

Additional NFL media notes

The final global numbers for Netflix’s NFL Christmas games are in: The Baltimore Ravens-Texans game averaged 31.3 million viewers globally, and Kansas City Chiefs-Steelers drew 30 million viewers. Netflix said Chiefs-Steelers was in the streamer’s daily top 10 programming in 72 countries, and Ravens-Texans was in the top 10 in 62 countries. (International data is based on first-party Netflix Live + 1 data for TV, mobile and web, along with NFL-reported viewing for the NFL’s international distributors and NFL Game Pass on DAZN outside of the U.S.) It’s a win for both entities and just the beginning for Netflix’s NFL ambitions.

One of the wildest viewership numbers of the NFL season: ESPN’s Week 17 “Monday Night Football” matchup between the Lions and San Francisco 49ers generated an audience of 22.2 million viewers (ESPN, ABC, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes and NFL+). That was MNF’s best for the 2024 season and ranks among the five most-watched games for the franchise since ESPN acquired the rights in 2006.

Amazon Prime Video’s coverage of “Thursday Night Football” averaged 14.23 million viewers this season, per Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurement. Its top game was Packers-Lions on Dec. 5, which drew 18.48 million viewers and a peak audience of 20.29 million. (BD+P measurement features an enhanced methodology that combines data points from approximately 45 million households and 75 million devices with their person-level panel of more than 100,000 people to produce a deeper and more complete view of all Nielsen-measured programs.)

The streamer said its NFL audience had a median age of 49.0 years, nearly seven years younger than the average median age of viewers watching the NFL on linear TV (55.7), and more than 14 years younger than audiences watching prime-time broadcast television during the Fall 2024 season (63.3). Amazon’s NFL pregame show, “TNF Tonight,” had an average audience of 1.53 million in 2024, up 10 percent over its 2023 average (1.39 million).

Sports had 87 of the top 100 most-watched telecasts of the year, per Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. That’s down from 2023, when 96 of the top 100 were sports. When Karp broadened the list, sports accounted for 182 of the top 200 shows of 2024. The NFL accounted for 70 of the top 100, down from last year’s 93 but almost the same as 2020, the last presidential election year.

Episode 463 of the “Sports Media with Richard Deitsch” podcast featured Karp. In this episode, we discussed the awful news out of New Orleans that left more than a dozen dead and about three dozen injured and how it will impact the Super Bowl news coverage, plus the best viewership scenarios between Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas and Ohio State.

Speaking of podcast listens, University of Nebraska professor John Shrader interviewed several sports media writers around the country for a podcast about covering the people who put on the games you watch. Worth your time.

Last item: My colleague Dan Shanoff reviewed “They Call It Late Night With Jason Kelce,” the first of a four-week “pop-up” experiment in sports TV leading up to the Super Bowl. Said Shanoff: “The results were a not-unexpected mix of raucous, ragged and relatable.” Musician-actor Steven Van Zandt had his own thoughts.

(Photo of Saquon Barkley: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)