Later that year, the network broadcast the NFL Championship Game between the Chicago Cardinals at Philadelphia Eagles with Harry Wismer[2][3][4] providing commentary.

As previously mentioned, also in 1955, ABC picked up games featuring the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers and broadcast them specifically to their affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone.

[9] ABC also broadcast that year's Thanksgiving Day game between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions with Harry Wismer and Budd Lynch on the call.

During negotiations on a new television contract that would begin in 1970, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle contacted ABC about signing a weekly Monday night deal.

The first Monday Night Football game on ABC aired on September 21, 1970, between the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns with Howard Cosell, Keith Jackson and Don Meredith in the broadcast booth.

The inimitable style of the group (mostly with Cosell, both loved and hated by the public) distinguished Monday Night Football as a distinct spectacle, and ushered in an era of more colorful broadcasters and 24/7 TV sports coverage.

[13] Meredith left for three seasons (1974–1976) to work with Curt Gowdy at NFL on NBC, then returned to MNF partners Gifford and Cosell.

[10] During the first half of the September 5, 1983 Monday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins, Cosell's commentary on wide receiver Alvin Garrett included "That little monkey gets loose doesn't he?"

Joseph Lowery, then-president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, denounced Cosell's comment as racist and demanded a public apology.

Despite supportive statements by Jesse Jackson, Muhammad Ali, and Alvin Garrett himself, the fallout contributed to Cosell's decision to leave Monday Night Football following the 1983 season.

"[17] Cosell explained that Garrett's small stature, and not his race, was the basis for his comment, citing the fact that he had used the term to describe his own grandchildren.

On November 18, 1985, Joe Theismann suffered a comminuted compound fracture of the tibia and fibula in his right leg during a sack by linebackers Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson during a Monday Night Football game between the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants.

The Monday Night Football announcer team of Frank Gifford, O. J. Simpson and Joe Namath had correctly inferred from the start that Taylor was calling for help.

[20] As previously mentioned, in April 1987, Dan Dierdorf was hired by ABC to join Al Michaels and Frank Gifford on Monday Night Football broadcasts.

[22] On October 26, 1987, Gary Bender along with Lynn Swann called the Monday Night Football game between the Denver Broncos and the Minnesota Vikings.

After his time at NBC, producer Don Ohlmeyer was lured out of retirement in 2000 to spark interest and provide some vigor to the MNF broadcast.

He also made the controversial decision to hire comedian Dennis Miller to join Al Michaels and Dan Fouts[26] in the broadcast booth, an experiment widely regarded in hindsight as a failure.

Madden had worked at Fox Sports for eight years since the network had won the contract for the NFC Conference games away from CBS in 1994.

)[32] The final exclusive Monday Night Football broadcast on ABC aired on December 26, 2005, when the New York Jets, who coincidentally played in the first MNF game, hosted the New England Patriots.

ABC's final NFL telecast as part of their Monday Night Football contract would be Super Bowl XL in on February 5, 2006, between the Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Previously, the Super Bowl telecast alternated between CBS and NBC, while the networks simulcast the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game.

Brent Musburger hosted all the Super Bowl XXIX pregame (2 hours), halftime, and postgame events with the help of then-ABC Sports analyst Dick Vermeil, Musburger's regular color commentator on ABC's college football telecasts, and then-New York Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason.

[34] When the NFL expanded its Wild Card round to include a third team in each conference for the 1990 season, this added two additional playoff games to the slate.

Initially consisting of Mike Patrick, and Joe Theismann, the two were joined by Paul Maguire following NBC's loss of broadcast rights in 1998.

The lone exception came in 2002, when Musburger returned to call the AFC wild card game in New York with analyst Gary Danielson.

Beginning with the 2017 season, ABC added a second regular NFL telecast when it began simulcasting ESPN's coverage of the Pro Bowl.

[40] In 2019, during the NFL Scouting Combine, ABC presented a two-hour special that featured drills by quarterbacks and wide receivers.

ESPN also gained the rights to a divisional playoff game starting in 2023, and two future Super Bowls, which would all also be simulcast on ABC.

For the first year of the new contract, in 2021, ESPN announced that their Week 1 Monday Night Football game, coincidentally in Las Vegas, would be simulcast on ABC.

[52] On September 18, 2023, ABC announced that due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes, it would simulcast Monday Night Football every week for the 2023 season.