Chapter 768: King’s Aura
Was Goodell worried about the viewership ratings?
Of course.
The concern wasn’t about just one ga, but rather the overall trend in the environnt.
In the past two years, with the rise of streaming dia there has been yet another shift in entertainnt consumption among younger generations. Traditional TV viewing has faced increasing challenges, and a decline in TV ratings had beco commonplace.
Even the NFL, once thought to have an unchallengeable position as king of ratings, inevitably faced this test. The League had to think long-term.
Supporting the passing offense was for the sake of viewership ratings.
Supporting Li Wei and Donald was also for the sake of viewership ratings.
The playoffs not being exciting enough, leading to loss of viewers, was a very serious matter.
However, in difficult tis, Goodell always managed to grasp the essential points.
So far, the playoffs hadn’t unfolded according to plan. Expectations and predictions after the regular season seed to have quietly veered off track; however, Goodell did not miss the silver lining behind the dark clouds.
This season, traditional powerhouses like the New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints continued to show strong performances. Quarterbacks Brady and Brees continued their high-energy output, defending traditions and solidifying die-hard fans.
Erging power teams, the Los Angeles Rams joined the ranks of the Kansas City Chiefs in delivering spectacular performances. With Goff and Donald spearheading the Galactic Battleship, and Mahos and Li Wei leading the Youth Storm, there was a full rise to prominence.
One was Los Angeles, hosting North Arica’s second largest city, where the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers’ excellent performances this season awakened fans’ fervor.
The other was Li Wei, an Asian player who won unprecedented attention in the League. The North Arican Asian market and overseas Asian fans also joined the chatter.
The outlook was very promising.
Imagine if the ideal matchups could materialize in the conference finals—
In the Arican League, “Kansas City Chiefs vs New England Patriots.”
In the National Conference, “Los Angeles Rams vs New Orleans Saints.”
Then everything would be perfect, enough to ignite a frenzy throughout the entire League. Who would care if the wildcard and divisional rounds weren’t thrilling?
Right now, the Kansas City Chiefs were undergoing a transformation.
Last season they were a dark horse, unexpectedly disrupting the entire League’s structure.
If they continued as a dark horse this season, that would be very disappointing.
Luckily, the Kansas City Chiefs had not. After experiencing turbulence and crises during the offseason, the team got back on track and continued to rise.
This was in stark contrast with the Philadelphia Eagles, who stumbled and faltered throughout the season.
Though the matches had been challenging, it was indeed worriso; but the Kansas City Chiefs were transforming into a completely new powerhouse. With their absolutely dominant performance, they silenced the doubters, showing strength worthy of notice from the defending champions. The future looked promising—
This was great news, indeed excellent news.
Li Wei, truly the man Goodell had faith in, did not disappoint. Ti and again, with his spectacular performances, he silenced all dissenting voices, marking his presence in the fierce competition within the League.
A smile gently crept onto Goodell’s lips.
“Ha ha, at the end of the regular season, didn’t people always complain that the Kansas City Chiefs were a pseudo-strong team? That they could only show their strength against weaker teams, but when facing real powerhouses, they couldn’t stand up.”
A small jibe, and soone nearby muttered, “That’s true.”
“Against this season’s playoff teams, they lost three tis.”
The Los Angeles Chargers, the Los Angeles Rams, the New England Patriots.
Goodell looked up, “But they also won three tis.”
Los Angeles Chargers, Seattle Seahawks, Baltimore Ravens.
Goodell added, “I have done my howork too.”
A light mood perated the air, and many chuckled.
Yet, so remained dissatisfied, “Facing playoff teams, a record of three wins and three losses, a winning rate of 50% is indeed not impressive, no wonder netizens complained.”
Imagine that, even within the League office there were such opinions, let alone on social dia?
Those trolls are relentless, all day and night.
Goodell didn’t argue back but nodded, “Indeed, that is the objective reality. That’s why I said, in the divisional gas, on the real playoff stage, the Kansas Chiefs proved themselves convincingly.”
“Trust , the fans of the Kansas Chiefs will keep increasing.”
That was all he said. Goodell didn’t continue the discussion and turned his gaze toward the field, eagerly watching the developnts on the field—
Today, the Kansas Chiefs truly demonstrated their dominance on both offense and defense, shining brightly in nurous areas; yet Li Wei remained the core.
Throughout the ga, Li Wei’s resilience and energy completely overpowered the opponents.
The most direct data was, Leonard, the biggest gain of the Indianapolis Colts’ defensive group this season, was completely invisible this ga, whether matching up against Mahos or against Li Wei, totally silenced.
Even the Madman beca ta and obedient, such is the terror of Li Wei.
“Next conference final, no matter who the opponent of the Kansas Chiefs is, how to stop Li Wei will be a severe challenge, headache-inducing indeed.”
“Moreover, the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Chargers still need to battle it out first, while the Kansas Chiefs can wait comfortably.”
“Of course, both the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Chargers have defeated the Kansas Chiefs in the regular season; they should not be fearful, but beware, the Playoff Chiefs are a completely different team.”
The fourth quarter was still ongoing, but the comntators had given up on any change in the outco, looking ahead to the next matchup during garbage ti, as the result was no longer uncertain.
Richie was still fighting, not for victory, but for dignity, and more importantly, to regain so face in front of the fans—
After all, this was just Richie’s first season in Indianapolis, and he needed to prove his fighting spirit to the fans, even if losing he couldn’t afford a collapse.
Richie’s adjustnts and efforts did earn so redemption, as the Indianapolis Colts scored a face-saving touchdown, slightly reducing the gap; but it had little effect in stemming the bleed, because the Kansas Chiefs Offense was still unstoppable.
If it hadn’t been for entering the fourth quarter, with the Kansas Chiefs focusing on controlling the clock, not always pushing for touchdowns, even settling for field goals; and with the substitution lineup in the final garbage ti, the score increase would have been even more humiliating.
Despite this—
“14:44”.
The entire ga ended, the Kansas Chiefs defeated the Indianapolis Colts by a full thirty-point margin, striding confidently into the next round, advancing to the conference finals for the second consecutive year, powerfully silencing all doubts.
A crushing, complete victory!
A full thirty-point margin turned what was anticipated as an evenly matched battle into a one-man show, completely unbalancing the gaplay.
Shouts of astonishnt all around!
The highly united, confident Indianapolis Colts were humiliated, even failing to form any decent vigorous resistance.
Then, comntator Michaels tried to salvage so dignity for the Indianapolis Colts.
“A thirty-point gap, ranking twenty-sixth in the history list of NFL divisional round largest margin victories.”
“Yes, twenty-sixth, you heard right. So the Indianapolis Colts don’t need to feel too ashad or too self-blaming, this ga was not too bad.”
Indianapolis Colts: Is this serious? Not comforting at all.
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