NFL football, after years of rising ratings, lost a bit of steam this year. 

And the Super Bowl was no exception: it drew 108.4 million viewers, down from a record 111.3 million a year ago, according to Nielsen Research. It's still the third-biggest viewership in history and five times the number of viewers for an episode of 'NCIS," typically the highest rated show in a given week. 

Could all the bad publicity about head injuries be taking a toll? Hard to say but it can't help.

There were two other factors that may have hurt the game's ratings: the first half was a relative bore as the Ravens broke out to a big lead. Then early in the third quarter, the lights partly went out in the Super Dome, leading to an embarrassing 34-minute delay of game.

CBS requested those 34 minutes be omitted from the final average of viewership.

The 49ers made a furious comeback effort that made the second half far more compelling.

In Atlanta, the household rating was a whopping 49 rating and 71 share which means 71 percent of TVs that were on were tuned into the game.  That's about 1.3 million households and 2.4 million total viewers in metro Atlanta.  A year ago, the ratings were higher: 51.3 rating and a 70 share (more TVs were on last year at this time.)

The game also became a social media sensation, drawing 47 million social media posts, according to Trendrr TV. That's nearly triple the number from a year ago.