Published October 26, 2026 04:27 PM
The Bears’ Thursday night win over the Patriots delivered on the scoreboard that matters most to the NFL — eyeballs.
Amazon announced that the Week 7 opener generated 19.86 million viewers on average for Prime Video.
It was the second most-watched Thursday night game for Prime Video, behind only the 2025 Christmas night game between the Broncos and Chiefs. It was also the most-watched Week 7 Thursday night game since it became part of the weekly collection of windows.
For the season, Prime Video is averaging 17.71 million viewers, a 12-percent increase over last year’s average through the first six games of the year.
The quality of the matchups is the key. Both teams entered the game 4-2, and both have strong national followings.
This week, Prime Video will be hard pressed to match that number, with the 3-3 Panthers visiting the 4-3 Packers. Sure, Cheeseheads will unite to watch their favorite team. With Carolina losing by 30 to the Buccaneers on Sunday, however, Panthers fans may decide to take the night off.
But we’re getting to the point in the season where games that may have looked good in May won’t deliver on the promise, and that other options have emerged as far more compelling games. With Panthers-Packers on Thursday (and with the 2-4 Eagles visiting the 1-4-1 Commanders on Sunday night), the 1:00 p.m. ET window has the 4-3 Ravens at the 5-1 Bills, the 6-0 Vikings at the 4-2 Lions, and the 5-2 Browns at the 5-2 Steelers.
Then there’s the AFC West showdown at 4:25 p.m. ET between the 5-1 Chiefs and the 5-2 Broncos.