Saints-Chiefs draws 15.9 million for non-ABC Monday night game [Video]

The Chiefs might be supplanting the Cowboys as America’s Team.

On a Monday night that didn’t include an ABC simulcast, a so-so game between the Saints and Chiefs drew an audience of 15.9 million for the ESPN/ESPN2 simulcast. That’s an impressive number for ESPN/ESPN2 only.

Of that number, 1.4 million watched the ManningCast. That’s 8.8 percent of the total audience.

That’s a good sign for the alternate broadcast, which had numbers so low in Week 1 (872,000) that the ESPN/ABC press release didn’t even mention them.

It helps that the game wasn’t on ABC. It also potentially helps that the game wasn’t so compelling that it required constant attention.

That continues to be the biggest issue with alternate broadcasts. They distract from the game. Maybe their biggest value comes from when the game could use a distraction or two — like when the starting quarterback of the team that’s losing …