NFL Plays Cutthroat Streaming Game: Pay or Cry Watching Bears-Packers

KEY POINTS

•On January 10, 2026, the Bears defeated the Packers in a wild card playoff game watched by 31.6 million mostly streaming viewers.
•Amazon Prime held exclusive streaming rights to the game, marking a new record for NFL streaming attendance.
•The NFL’s evolving strategy includes massive deals with Amazon, Netflix, Disney, and Peacock to increase streaming availability and revenues.

On January 10, 2026, Chicago Bears fans learned that to witness their historic comeback (or Green Bay’s choke-job, depending on loyalties), they must now first remember their Amazon Prime password. The bitter Bears-Packers rivalry shifted from Soldier Field to streaming-only headlines—except some locals got their old-school antenna vibe. Thirty-one-point-six million viewers zoomed in via Prime Video, setting a new NFL streaming record that outdid conventional TV’s weekend snoozer ratings. Flashback to 2013, and streaming NFL was basically sci-fi, with Mark Cuban skeptical if Google could pull it off. Fast forward past ESPN’s 2014 World Cup buffering torture, 2015’s cautious NFL streaming experiment, and Peacock’s 2024 paywall playoff gatekeeping, the league now has Amazon dumping gazillions for weekly games, while Netflix plays Santa for Christmas NFL snacks. Disney’s deal in 2025 means even more games hit your data cap, proving the NFL loves old TV but wants its streaming cake and to charge for it too.