On Saturday, the Houston Texans will host the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs. While viewers can tune in to the game on CBS and Paramount+, there’s also a fun alternate broadcast for anyone who prefers to watch the game with some friends from Bikini Bottom.
Nickelodeon Airing SpongeBob Alternate Broadcast of Texans-Chargers Game
When the Texans-Chargers game kicks off at 4:30 p.m. ET, viewers can tune in to a special SpongeBob SquarePants-themed broadcast of the playoff game.
“NFL Wild Card Game Live From Bikini Bottom” will feature “enhanced Nick-ified graphics, advanced augmented reality, and appearances by fan-favorite characters featured across Paramount’s portfolio.”
SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, and CBS Sports analyst Nate Burleson will call the game, with Sandy Cheeks and NFL Slimetime’s Dylan Schefter reporting from the sidelines, while Dora explains the game’s rules and penalty calls.
Also, the broadcast will feature appearances from Megatron and Optimus Prime (“Transformers One”), Arnold and Helga (“Hey Arnold!”), Cat and Dog (“CatDog”); Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow (“Sonic the Hedgehog 3”); the Loud family (“The Loud House”); Tiny Chef (“The Tiny Chef Show”); Wanda and Cosmo (“The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish”), Reptar, Chuckie and Tommy (“Rugrats”), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the PAW Patrol crew.
“You always want to top what you did the last time around, that’s for sure,” said CBS Sports’ Shawn Robbins, the broadcast’s coordinating producer. “Our primary goals this time around are to bring in more characters than ever before and to push the technology further than we ever have.”
This will mark the sixth alternate broadcast from Nickelodeon and CBS Sports, and the third NFL Wild Card game. Nickelodeon and CBS Sports won a Sports Emmy Award for the inaugural alternate broadcast of the Super Bowl.
The SpongeBob broadcast will be streamed on Nickelodeon, Paramount+, and mobile devices with NFL+.
The traditional broadcast on CBS and Paramount+ will feature Ian Eagle and Charles Davis in the booth, with Evan Washburn handling sideline duties.
Texans-Chargers Preview
- Location: NRG Stadium, Houston
- Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
- Channel: CBS/Paramount+
The Chargers have thrived as road favorites this season, going 5-1 in such games. Their lone loss came against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7. Notably, Los Angeles covered the spread in all five of its road-favorite victories.
The Chargers finished fourth in PFN’s Defense+ rankings, largely thanks to their dominance against bottom-half offenses. Los Angeles faced eight teams that ranked in the bottom half of PFN’s Offense+ rankings this season, going 7-1 in those matchups. In those games, the Chargers allowed just 11.9 points per game while achieving a 64.0% defensive success rate.
Justin Herbert ended the regular season on a hot streak. Over his final three games—against the Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, and Las Vegas Raiders—he led the league with 0.47 EPA per dropback. His cumulative QB+ grade during that stretch was 84.2 (B), which, over a full season, would have ranked 11th, just behind Patrick Mahomes.
The Texans’ pass rush could pose significant challenges. A major factor in Houston’s seventh-place finish in PFN’s Defense+ rankings was its ability to convert pressure into sacks.
While the Texans ranked 20th in overall pressure rate (33%), they finished fourth in sack rate (8.1%) and converted 24.7% of pressures into sacks—the fifth-best mark in the league.
Notably, the Chargers led the NFL in points allowed per game against bottom-half Offense+ units this season. The Texans finished 28th in PFN’s Offense+ metric, the lowest ranking of any team to qualify for the playoffs.