per Crains

Bears games in the Chicago market this season averaged a 27.5 local TV household rating (about 955,000 Chicago-area homes), down 12.6 percent from last year and the fifth-largest percentage dip among all 32 NFL teams.

Only the New Orleans Saints (down 17.7 percent), Tennessee Titans (down 17.1 percent) Kansas City Chiefs (down 15.8 percent) and Washington Redskins (down 14.7 percent) endured larger drops, according to Nielsen.

The fall left the Bears with the 18th-highest local TV rating average in the league, down from 13th last season.

The average drop among all NFL teams was 0.9 percent to a 28.2 rating, putting the Bears below the league average for the first time since at least 2011, according to Sports Business Journal. Check out the full list of TV ratings here.

Missing the playoffs for the seventh time in eight years in 2014 alienated some Bears fans, with a downward trajectory on the amount that people were tweeting about the Bears during games as the season dragged on.

Keep in mind, the impact of the local TV ratings drop is minimal on the Bears. All NFL teams this season got a major financial boost from the league's new TV broadcasting deals with NBC, Fox and CBS. Teams this season each received $158 million in national TV revenue, up 21 percent from 2013.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Also because the team was unlikable like the 04 Cubs.

_________________

wasn't it kent mercker who cornered stone in an elevator for something about stoney's kind words about the pitching acumen/quality of roy oswalt? i wanna say it was something that bizarre and stupid.

and then, of course, going into that last weekend where the cubs would eventually finish off their vintage/name-brand chokejob, instead of having meetings about "how do we win these damn games?" dusty was calling meetings to get rid of "the steve stone problem" because win or lose NO WASHED UP COLOR COMMENTATOR IS GONNA ASSUME SUPERIORITY TO THE DUSTBALL!

but yeah i like to think that kent mercker cornering stone in an elevator got a A CERTAIN SOMEONE to realize "hey, people are at their most vulnerable in the elevator. i can use this to my advantage." and the rest is history.

_________________