It was hyped as the biggest regular season game the NFL has ever had. Tom Brady and the undefeated Patriots against Peyton Manning and the undefeated Colts. Bill Belichick vs Tony Dungy. Possible home field advantage in the playoffs on the line. The TV ratings did not disappoint.

The early overnight ratings show that the game on CBS, won by the Patroits 24-20, earned a 22.5/39 overnight Nielsen rating.........making the game the highest rated regular season game since 1986 according to CBS. The Patriots - Cowboys game earlier this season had been the highest rated game of the season thus far with an 18 rating.

And this wasn't just the highest rated NFL game of the season, it was one of the highest rated TV programs of 2007.......period. Yesterday's game bested The "American Idol" finale on Fox earlier this year earned a 17.8 rating. But it trailed ABC's Academy Awards broadcast which earned a 26.4 overnight rating.

While yesterday's game pulled a huge number for CBS, it still did not draw the number that last season's AFC Championship game between the Patriots and Colts did. That game earned a 26.4 rating.

The other sidebar story of this game was that several very wise companies purchased advertising during this highly rated broadcast. Thirty-second ads during the game were going for $500,000. By comparison, if you bought an ad during  last year's Super Bowl, you paid $2.7M for that same thirty-second spot. Citi, Nike, Sprint, Mastercard and Snickers all got in on the relative bargain.

As well as yesterday's game did for a regular season NFL game, the Super Bowl is still king. Last year's Super Bowl XLI between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears scored a 42.6 rating, amounting to roughly 93 million viewers. Its was the second most watched Super Bowl of all-time ranking behind the 1996 Super Bowl between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In case you were wondering, the highest rated TV show of all-time was the series finale of M*A*S*H. The 1983 finale was seen by 106 million people.

And if you bet the game, the Colts were a 5.5 point underdog at home......so if you took the Colts and the points, you won.

I have a feeling we'll see these two great teams match up again in this year's playoffs. And that will be a treat for everyone.