Monday Night Football: How to Watch 49ers vs. Colts Tonight for Free
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There are free trials for watching tonight’s MNF game, and Sling will let you watch for $5. See all of your options for watching or streaming the game.
When to watch the San Francisco 49ers vs. Indianapolis Colts
- The game is scheduled for Dec. 22 at 8:15 p.m. ET (5:15 p.m. PT).
Where to watch
- The 49ers-Colts Monday Night Football game will be broadcast nationally on ABC and ESPN.
The Indianapolis Colts (8-6) are reeling and have turned to 44-year-old Phillip Rivers to help rescue their season after losing Daniel Jones to a season-ending injury. They need a win tonight to put an end to a four-game losing streak and stay a game behind the Houston Texans in a race to claim the last Wild Card spot in the AFC. Standing in their way are the San Francisco 49ers (10-4), winners of four straight games. The Niners have already clinched at least a Wild Card berth in the NFC but still have an outside chance at winning their division if they can keep up their winning ways.
The Niners and Colts kick off tonight at 8:15 p.m. ET (5:15 p.m. PT) on ABC and ESPN. The Manning brothers have the night off tonight; the ManningCast will return for the final episode of the season during Wild Card weekend.
Phillip Rivers came out of retirement to quarterback the Indianapolis Colts. Next up for the 44-year-old is a date with the San Francisco 49ers tonight for Monday Night Football.
Steph Chambers/Getty ImagesHow to watch 49ers vs. Colts on Monday Night Football
If you don’t have a cable or satellite TV subscription, you can watch tonight’s game on ABC or ESPN with a live TV streaming service or ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service.
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ESPN DTC comes in two flavors. The ESPN Unlimited plan costs $30 a month (or $300 a year) and lets you stream all ESPN linear networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network and ACC Network. You also get access to programming on ESPN on ABC, ESPN Plus, ESPN3, SECN Plus and ACCNX. For NFL fans, this new ESPN service lets you watch every Monday Night Football game and the ManningCast for the 12 weeks it airs (11 weeks during the regular season and a Wild Card playoff game).
There is also a $12 a month ESPN Select plan that is like a rebranding of ESPN Plus. It offers you access to thousands of live games — including small college conferences, whose games you can’t watch anywhere else — but not the NFL.
Fubo recently introduced a $56 per month skinny bundle for sports fans that includes ABC and ESPN as well as most of the other channels you need to watch football each week of the season: CBS, Fox and NFL Network. It does not include NBC. To also get NBC for Sunday Night Football, you need to spring for Fubo’s standard plan that costs $85 a month.
Fubo offers a 7-day trial so you can watch tonight’s game for free. Click here to see which local channels you get. Read our Fubo review.
The DirecTV MySports plan costs $70 per month and includes ABC and ESPN along with CBS, Fox, NBC and NFL Network. DirecTV offers a five-day trial so you can watch the Monday Night Football game for free. You can use its channel lookup tool to see the local channels available where you live. Read our DirecTV Stream review.
For $83 a month, you get all the major football channels with YouTube TV, including ABC and ESPN. YouTube TV is currently offering a 5-day trial, so you can watch tonight’s game for free.
Plug in your ZIP code on the YouTube TV welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area.
YouTube TV is the exclusive home to NFL Sunday Ticket. But note that Sunday Ticket does not include local games. You can only watch Sunday afternoon games that aren’t being broadcast on CBS or Fox in your area. If you want to watch all the football on Sundays you need Sunday Ticket plus a YouTube TV subscription (or get Sunday Ticket and use an antenna for local games).
Hulu Plus Live TV costs $83 a month and includes ABC and ESPN and the rest of the NFL channels in most markets. Hulu Plus Live TV also offers a three-day trial so you can watch the Monday Night Football game for free. You can enter your ZIP code under the “Can I watch local news in my area?” question at the bottom of the live news page to see which local channels you get. Read our Hulu Plus Live TV review.
The Sling Orange plan costs $46 a month and includes ESPN but none of the other channels you need to watch the NFL this season. You can also get a one-day pass from Sling for $5 for tonight’s game.
To get ESPN along with ABC, NBC, Fox and NFL Network, you need to get the $61 a month Sling Orange and Blue plan. But even then, you will not get CBS for its Sunday afternoon games, making Sling a poor fit for NFL fans. Read our Sling TV review.
All the live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide.
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