First Take, Get Up, Pat McAfee Show all pull record ratings for ESPN day after Cowboys playoff defeat

Yet again the Dallas Cowboys suffered a disappointing loss in the playoffs, with America’s Team falling to the Green Bay Packers 48-32 last Sunday in the NFC Wild Card round. Dallas entered the matchup as 7.5-point home favorites.

The Monday after the game was probably a somber one for Cowboys’ fans, but not for ESPN, with the network celebrating a record ratings day for a multitude of their programs following Dallas’ downfall.

“First Take” host Stephen A. Smith is known for his animosity and antics towards the Dallas Cowboys, actively rooting against America’s Team and celebrating loudly and proudly when they suffer a defeat, especially in the playoffs.

Smith’s longstanding stance on the Cowboys paid off to start the week, as plenty of people tuned in to “First Take” to see him celebrate Dallas’ defeat with the program averaging a whopping 1.5 million viewers during Monday’s show. Eclipsing the program’s previous record of 918,000 viewers set on January 17, 2022, according to Front Office Sports.

ESPN’s “Get Up,” which airs Monday through Friday preceding “First Take,” also reached a new record high for viewership following the Cowboys’ loss. “Get Up” notched 979,000 viewers on Monday snapping their previous record of 730,000 viewers achieved earlier this year on January 7, with audiences tuning in to see host Mike Greenberg and the crew react to Dallas’ playoff blunder.

Even ESPN newcomer Pat McAfee set a record just four months into the tenure of his program “The Pat McAfee Show,” drawing a season-high 946,000 viewers across his television and YouTube platforms.

The result of the Cowboys-Packers game was clearly a win for the worldwide leader in sports, as viewers couldn’t get enough of analysts and media personalities reacting to yet another Cowboys playoff letdown. But FOX also celebrated a win with the game itself, averaging 40 million viewers on their broadcast of the matchup to deliver the second-highest viewed game of the NFL season behind Dallas’ Thanksgiving Day game against the Washington Commanders.

The Packers got ahead of the Cowboys quickly on Sunday, scoring 27 unanswered points to start the game before Dallas got on the board right before the first half ended. Dallas attempted to battle back, scoring 16 points in the final six minutes of the game, but they could not close the large gap that Green Bay established early.

Sunday marked the Cowboys’ 13th straight loss in the Wild Card or Divisional round of the playoffs, with the franchise not breaking through to an NFC Championship game appearance since the 1995 season where they also took home a Super Bowl XXX victory.