NFL Week 15 TV distribution map: Detroit Lions at New York Jets

Unlike most years, Detroit Lions vs. New York Jets has a lot of intrigue to it. The Jets haven’t made the postseason since the 2010 season, and the Lions haven’t been there since 2016. Yet both teams are currently in the hunt. At 7-6, the Jets are just a single game out of a Wild Card spot in a competitive AFC. While the 6-7 Lions are hitting their stride at the right time and currently find themselves 1.5 games out of a playoff spot.

The Lions offense is a ton of fun to watch right now, while the Jets defense is one of the best units in football, led by a pair of impressive young talents. Sunday’s game between the two teams will have drastic playoff implications. According to FiveThirtyEight, if the Lions lose, their playoff odds drop to seven percent vs. 34 percent if they win. For the Jets, they’re at 46 percent odds with a win and 19 percent if they lose.

So we’ve got two, young talented teams, a lot of stakes in each conference’s playoff race, and a big New York market. Surely this game is essentially a nationally-televised game, right?

Not quite.

In fact, the television market for Lions vs. Jets—which is on CBS this week—is pretty much just relegated to each division’s local market. Here’s the Week 15 television distribution map, as provided by 506Sports.com.

Courtesy of 506 Sports

Over on FOX, Detroit is curiously getting the late Patriots vs. Raiders while the rest of the NFC North audience will be treated to the early Eagles vs. Bears game. I suppose this is simply to avoid a conflict with the Lions game at the 1 p.m. ET slot. And because the only other late FOX game is an uninteresting battle between the Cardinals and Broncos, we get Patriots/Raiders.

After the Lions game is over, CBS will flip to Bengals vs. Buccaneers—which is essentially a nationally televised game, as Titans vs. Chargers is almost exclusively being played in their local markets.

For all of the NFL Week 15 distribution maps, head over to 506Sports.com.