Bret Favre

About 18 million or so folks tuned in to NBC's Sunday Night Football Game last night, the Minnesota Vikings versus the Arizona Cardinals. That's a really good number, but it wasn't the boffo bonanza NBC had in mind when they used the NFL flex schedule option to choose Bret Favre over Tom Brady.

When I wrote about the flex schedule last week, a lot of reader comments said that NBC decision made perfect sense because the Vikings-Card game would be a bigger draw than the Patriots-Dolphins.

Well, guess what happened? The Favre game turned out to be a bust. The Cardinals, led by Kurt Warner, shredded the Vikings and won handily 30-17. It wasn't close and the ratings diminished from the second half on.

One of the perks NBC has over the other networks when it comes to its football coverage is what's called the flex schedule. Unlike CBS and Fox and ESPN which get the games that are scheduled months in advance without regard for ideal match ups, NBC has the option of plucking a better game for the Sunday Football Night in America broadcast. Hence the term, flex, as in flexible.

Thus far this season, NBC has had three chances to flip the switch and passed. However, on December 6, NBC has chosen a Vikings/Cardinals game over a Pats/Dolphins match.

This was the spot from the NFL Superad contest. Gino Bona, from Portsmouth, N.H. won the contest after making his pitch to make the fans the stars of the ad. You can get more background on Gino and what led to the spot at the NFL.com page.

As far as the ad itself goes. It was solid. Kudos to Gino for a job well done. I liked all the scenes with the fans, but what really sold it was the end. After flashing "It's hard to say goodbye" on the screen they cut to Bret Favre. Then they flash, "for some, it's even harder." That's a nice tie-in to the fact that every year it becomes a major question whether or not Favre will return. Good stuff.