Bears’ home-opening win rates slightly lower than last year’s

The Bears’ home-opening victory Sunday against the Bengals drew a 22.9 household rating for Fox-32, slightly down from the home opener last year on CBS 2, which drew a 23.6, according to Nielsen. One ratings point equals roughly 31,000 households.

The small drop likely can be attributed to fans returning to Soldier Field. Fox-32’s audience was about 1.26 million viewers compared to CBS 2’s nearly 1.37 million. The game drew a higher rating in Cincinnati at 24.1.

Fox Sports released the ratings for the top markets of its singleheader Sunday. Minneapolis was No. 1 at 28.3 for Vikings-Cardinals, followed by Philadelphia (25.7 for 49ers-Eagles), Cincinnati, Chicago and Tampa, Fla. (21.7 for Falcons-Buccaneers).

The network said it delivered an 11.1 national overnight rating, up 6% from the comparable window last season (10.5) and its best rating for an NFL singleheader since Week 13 of 2019.

The Bears’ season opener on “Sunday Night Football” drew a 26.6 rating for NBC 5, the highest local rating for the game in the country.

Their game Sunday at Cleveland will be called by Fox’s No. 2 crew of Kevin Burkhardt and former Bears tight end Greg Olsen, who was the team’s first-round pick (No. 31 overall) in 2007 out of Miami.