A week ago, a massive winter storm sparked optimism that viewership for the conference championship games would skyrocket. Relative to those expectations, the actual performance was more like the last shot from a Roman candle.
Via Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, the average audience for the AFC Championship and NFC Championship fell by 6.7 percent, from 50.8 million in January 2025 to 47.4 million.
The average ends a three-year streak above 50 million as the average audience for both games.
The early game, Patriots-Broncos on CBS, generated the bigger number, at 48.4 million. It was the lowest average for the AFC Championship in four years, when Bengals-Chiefs attracted 47.9 million.
Rams-Seahawks on Fox averaged 46.1 million. While up from 44.2 million who watched the Eagles blow out the Commanders in the early window a year ago, the prime-time game dropped from 57.4 million last year for Bills-Chiefs. It was the lowest NFC Championship audience since Packers-49ers landed at 43 million in January 2020.
Karp’s article mentions “likely suppressed out-of-home viewership” due to the weather. But wouldn’t folks who have watched it at a bar or a restaurant or a friend’s house watched it at home?
The better explanation seems to be this: Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, and Patrick Mahomes. They were the four quarterbacks last year. Remove star players from the equation (Travis Kelce, too), and the games have less inherent sizzle.
Jim Leonhard was already a popular defensive coordinator candidate and now another team would like to speak with him.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Chargers have put in a request to interview Leonard for their defensive coordinator vacancy.
Lenohard, 43, has been with the Broncos since 2024. He was the club’s defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator in his first year before being promoted to assistant head coach/defensive pass game coordinator for 2025.
The Bills have strong interest in bringing in Leonhard as their defensive coordinator under new head coach Joe Brady. The Jets also have interviewed Leonhard for their vacancy.
Broncos quarterbacks coach/pass game coordinator Davis Webb has received interest as a head coaching candidate this month and he’s also a candidate for another move up the coaching ladder.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Webb has received requests from the Eagles, Giants, and Ravens to interview for their offensive coordinator openings. The Giants and Ravens have new head coaches while the Eagles are looking for a new coordinator after relieving Kevin Patullo of those duties.
Any decision about pursuing those jobs could be tied to the Raiders’ plans at head coach. Webb has interviewed with them twice for the position with the most recent coming on Monday. Joe Brady and Brian Daboll were also candidates in Vegas, but Brady became the Bills’ head coach Tuesday while Daboll has signed on as the Titans’ offensive coordinator.
The Broncos also fired their offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi on Tuesday, so there could be a chance for Webb to earn a promotion without leaving Denver. Head coach Sean Payton calls the team’s offensive plays, however, and Webb would have the opportunity to do that role with the other teams interested in his services.
Broncos coach Sean Payton has had some time to reflect on his decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 in the second quarter of Sunday’s loss in the AFC Championship Game, and he says the mistake he made was calling a bad play, not going for it.
“I don’t know which is the greater regret, the decision — certainly the play call,” Payton said.
After quarterback Jarrett Stidham ran for five yards on third-and-6, Payton called timeout to think about what he wanted to do on fourth-and-1. Payton wishes he had come up with a better play than the incomplete pass Stidham threw, which never looked like it had a chance.
“We used a timeout,” Payton said. “Probably what irks me more is the call, more than the decision.”
Payton has been criticized for not kicking a 32-yard field goal, especially considering that there was snow coming in the second half and points were going to be at a premium. Payton indicated the snow turned out to be worse than the forecast he had seen.
“It’s still early in the game, and we knew that there would be flurries — well, we have a new feel for flurries here,” Payton said.
Payton said he wishes he could do it over again but will never listen to the criticism of his call because coaches who concern themselves with criticism don’t win.
“There are those moments you wish you had back,” Payton said. “I don’t pay attention to all the criticism. If I paid attention to that, I don’t know that we’d ever be in this position.”
The Broncos fired two other coaches besides offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi on Tuesday.
The team announced it has parted ways with Lombardi, wide receivers coach Keary Colbert and cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch.
“I want to thank these coaches for playing an important role in elevating our program over the last three seasons,” Payton said in a statement. “I’ve been fortunate to work with Joe Lombardi for 15 years and am particularly grateful for his many contributions to our success as offensive coordinator.
“We sincerely appreciate Joe, Keary and Addison’s hard work and wish them all the best in the future.”
Lombardi worked with Payton in three different stints, including the past three as the Broncos’ offensive coordinator. Payton, though, is the play caller.
Lombardi’s departure could mean a promotion for quarterbacks coach Davis Webb if he remains in Denver. Webb is a frontrunner for the Raiders’ head coaching job. The Broncos, though, will have to interview at least two minority candidates to comply with the Rooney Rule.
Colbert, 43, has served as the team’s receivers coach the past three seasons. The Broncos’ wide receivers, though, were among the worst teams in the NFL at dropping passes.
Lynch, 35, started with the Broncos as a quality control coach in 2023 and was promoted to cornerbacks coach this season.
