Bears-Packers playoff game on Prime Video becomes NFL's most-streamed game ever

Like every other sports league, the NFL is managing the transition from traditional television to streaming the best it can. It hit a high watermark in that respect last weekend.

The Chicago Bears' comeback win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFL wild-card round averaged 31.61 million viewers on Prime Video, the streamer announced Tuesday. That makes it the most streamed game in NFL history by a wide margin.

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The audience reportedly peaked at 34.16 million.

The previous record-holder was this season's Christmas game between the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings, which averaged 27.52 million on Netflix. Prime also notes the game was responsible for the most concurrent viewers and highest single-day global viewership in its entire history.

Saturday's game is also reportedly a 43% increase over last year's equivalent game on Prime, another rivalry game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings. That game set a previous record with 22.07 million average viewers.

Having a rivalry game was obviously good for Prime's numbers. The nature of the game mattered too. The game was shaping up as another Bears disappointment against the Packers until the start of the fourth quarter, when Caleb Williams and the Chicago offense came alive with 25 points in the final 15 minutes.

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It was a breakthrough moment for the Bears. This year's team had showed immense promise under first-time head coach Ben Johnson, but beating the Packers in that fashion — even a version of Green Bay missing star pass-rusher Micah Parsons — was the kind of night Chicago hadn't had in years.

The Bears' win sets them up for a clash with the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in the divisional round. That game will be on NBC (and Peacock, of course).