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.

If you're like a lot of other American families, Thanksgiving dinner included not only turkey, cranberries, stuffing and pumpkin pie. You also had the TV on and the football game playing.

Every year there are two games that are locked in -- by tradition -- to the Thanksgiving game, the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys. Well, it's time to end tradition and end it now. While Dallas has remained a national favorite -- whether you like them or loathe them, they're relevant -- the Detroit Lions are not. There aren't many times a year when family gets together and TV viewing is a big part of it. It's fun to watch the NFL with family and friends, but the game has to be potentially a good one. Some of my favorite memories are of watching football on TV on the holidays.

This season they are winless and looking at their schedule, not likely to notch a single victory the rest to the way. They are awful and unwatchable. Yesterday the Detroit Lions were trounced 47-10 by the Tennessee Titans and the game was over in the first quarter, ruining the viewing for the entire nation. It had to be an embarrassment for the people of Detroit!