Week 15 of the 2024 NFL season isn’t over yet. In fact, there are still two games left on the schedule — a Monday Night Football doubleheader.
The first game is an NFC North battle between the 11-2 Minnesota Vikings and 4-9 Chicago Bears at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. It starts at 8 p.m. ET and airs on ABC and ESPN+.
The second game is a showdown between the 6-7 Atlanta Falcons and 2-11 Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Vegas. This contest starts at 8:30 p.m. ET and airs on ESPN. Let’s break down why there’s a MNF doubleheader.
Examining Why the Monday Night Doubleheader Is Happening
This is the fourth and final Monday Night Football doubleheader of the 2024 season (after Weeks 3, 4, and 7).
The reason for the double dip is simple. In 2021, the NFL finalized its current media rights agreement. As part of the deal, both ESPN and ABC received additional game broadcasts, including an expansion of multi-game Monday Night Football games.
Monday Night Football doubleheaders are nothing new, having been deployed by the NFL for years. However, the usual reason was to include games on both the West Coast and East Coast. Now, ESPN broadcasts more of an overlapping schedule than before.
The NFL’s media rights deal, which they agreed on in 2021, is set to last 11 years, meaning there are eight more years until it expires. The deal included previously existing broadcast partners and added Amazon Prime Video. With the added ESPN and ABC games, Disney’s content increased from 17 to 23 games.
Last season, there were four multi-game Monday Night Football weeks. There was also a MNF doubleheader in Week 2 of the 2022 season.
Previewing Both Monday Night Football Games
Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings (ABC)
The Bears’ last road win came with Justin Fields under center and Joshua Dobbs calling the shots for the Minnesota Vikings (Week 12 of last season).
Week 14 was the fifth time this season in which Chicago averaged under 20 yards per drive. But for all the offense’s problems, the Bears’ defense gave up five touchdowns on six red-zone drives to the 49ers last week (previous four games: 9 of 22, 40.9%).
Last week, Sam Darnold posted a 92.2 QB+, the best showing by a Vikings quarterback in our database that goes back to 2019 (previous best: Kirk Cousins 91.0 in Week 18 of 2021).
Defensively, the Vikings have allowed just three touchdowns on their opponents’ 11 red-zone trips over the past two games.
Atlanta Falcons at Las Vegas Raiders (ESPN)
Cousins is the first starting quarterback with zero passing touchdowns and 8+ interceptions in a four-game span since Ben Roethlisberger in 2005-06. His four straight games without a passing TD is twice as long as any other streak of his career.
It’s not only the Falcons offense letting the team down, though. Atlanta’s defense allowed Minnesota to convert 8 of 12 third downs last Sunday (66.7%; highest rate they’ve allowed in a game this season).
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Luckily, they’ll face a Raiders offense that is the only team that hasn’t cleared 20 points scored in multiple games since Week 4. Just 2.9% of Raiders passes have resulted in touchdowns this season, a rate that only tops the Giants.
Defensively, the Raiders gave up three touchdowns on three Buccaneers red-zone trips last week, the first time this season with a 0% stop rate.