Pats-Saints finishes shy of cable record

With a win over the New England Patriots on Monday, the New Orleans Saints could be looking at a 16-0 season. But with their impressive win over the Pats, they skipped out on setting another record: playing in the most-watched cable program of all time.

The Monday Night Football meeting between the Patriots, the only team to go 16-0, and the Saints, who are trying to do just that, drew a stellar audience of 21.4 million viewers. The total audience was just 400,000 viewers shy of the most-seen cable program ever: the Packers-Vikings Monday game back in October. So basically, had the Saints been a little less decisive in their win -- had the fourth quarter actually been somewhat interesting -- then this probably would have been the most-viewed cable event in history.

Oh well. They'll just have to settle with their potential unbeaten record, potential scoring record and potential MVP to Drew Brees -- not to mention their potential Super Bowl appearance.