The decline of television ratings over the last several seasons has been one of the biggest issues facing the NFL, and things got off to a rocky start through the first two weeks of Monday Night Football.

According to Austin Karp of SportsBusiness Daily, the Chicago Bears-Seattle Seahawks contest on Monday brought in a lowly 8.2 overnight rating, the lowest ever for ESPN, though it's worth noting that the NFL had stiff competition with the Emmy's, which Karp pointed out:

Karp also reported last week that the Monday Night Ratings for the Detroit Lions-New York Jets and Oakland Raiders-Los Angeles Rams contest were "pretty low historically." The Lions and Jets drew a 7.5 overnight rating, while the Raiders and Rams tuned in at a mere 7.0.

There are different things that can be factored in for the porous Monday night ratings thus far. The two games in Week 1 were blowouts, while the Bears and Seahawks aren't exactly Super Bowl contenders.

RELATED: ONE PLAYER EACH NFL TEAM SHOULDN'T HAVE SIGNED THIS OFFSEASON

The game was also quite sloppy for the most part, as the teams combined for eight sacks, 12 penalties and four turnovers. Had this game featured a big market team and/or championship contender like the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots or Pittsburgh Steelers, perhaps the game would have received better ratings.

The Sunday ratings were strong in Week 1, so NFL can't be too worried just yet about the porous Monday night ratings. They won't have big time competition (like the Emmy's), every Monday throughout the season, and we're still only two weeks through 2018.

Week 3 features the historic and nation-wide beloved Steelers against the surprising 2-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Week 4 will see the AFC West powerhouse Kansas City Chiefs face another big market team in the Denver Broncos, who have drawn major ratings in recent years.

NEXT: DESEAN JACKSON SAYS BUCCANEERS WILL RUN WITH RYAN FITZPATRICK WHILE HE’S THE HOT HAND