Takin' it like a champ there, little super-deflated football!

"The Walking Dead" usually starts the second half of a 16-episode season on the Sunday after the Super Bowl. That's the case again, so AMC decided to remind fans of that fact by taking out a simple, but effective 15-second ad during the 2017 game.

In the Super Bowl spot, Negan's best girl Lucille crushes the pigskin to declare "Football season is over," with Season 7 returning this coming Sunday, Feb. 12:

On Super Bowl Sunday, AMC held its usual counter-programming marathon of "The Walking Dead" episodes, so it's possible true fans missed TWD's Super Bowl ad because they were staying loyal to the dead. Then again, the Super Bowl attracts more than 100 million viewers, so you and everyone else probably did see the TV spot, unless you were in the john at the time.

How much did that wordless 15-second commercial set AMC back? According to Forbes, a 30-second Super Bowl spot sold for as much as $5,000,000 on Fox. So you have to figure around half that for a 15-second spot.

"The Walking Dead" Season 7 returns with (supersized) Episode 9, "Rock in the Road," at 9 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12 on AMC.

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