I find playoff baseball riveting, even if my Giants aren’t in it anymore.

But give me NFL any day, anytime.

And If you’re an NFL junkie like me, then you were probably wondering why the Bears-49ers game — both struggling with losing records — was televised Sunday instead of games involving likely playoff teams.

But before you vent to the local TV stations or, worse, call the newspaper to complain — yes, it’s happened this year and in years past — just realize we couch potatoes are small potatoes in the grand scheme.

Try as they might, the local affiliates —KHON (Fox, NFC packages) and KGMB (CBS, AFC packages) — are at the mercy of the major networks, just like we are.

It’s been that way since the first live telecast of a mainland football game, which occurred 55 years ago this month. Back on Nov. 19, 1966, Hawaii was just thrilled to get any live games.

The first was the Game of the Century between No. 1 Notre Dame (8-0) and No. 2 Michigan State (9-0) that featured three Hawaii products in Bob Apisa (Farrington), Charlie Wedemeyer (Punahou) and bare-foot place-kicker Dick Kenney (‘Iolani).

The next day live NFL made its debut on Hawaii TV with Green Bay against Chicago.

But this is a half century later and, with all the technological advances, why can’t viewers, or at least the local affiliate, have a say?

“We are able to make our suggestions, but ultimately, it’s decided by Fox regional,” said Rob DeMello, sports director for KHON.

Recently, DeMello said his station requested the Tua Tagovailoa game featuring Miami and Atlanta. But “we weren’t granted it,” he said.

Instead Hawaii got Washington at Green Bay.

“There’s always gonna be somebody who’s upset with the game we pick.” said Ian Scheuring, Hawaii News Now content distribution director, about KGMB’s NFL telecast.

Furthermore, both said requests usually have to be made about 10 days in advance.

That’s why you saw a Dolphins vs. Bucs game earlier this season, even with Tua hurt and not playing.

“More people think Joe Moore and I sit around in a lunch break room and say let’s watch this game,” DeMello said.

What might cause viewers some confusion is when there are cross-over AFC vs. NFC games in which you might see Dallas on an AFC station, which has already happened twice when the Cowboys played the Chargers and the Patriots.

Another possible source of confusion is that affiliates alternate who has the two games (early window and late window) and who has just one game.

Also, sometimes a certain game is the best choice. The 49ers-Bears were better than the network’s other choices: Panthers at Falcons, Eagles at Lions or Rams at Texans.

So if you were wondering why not Titans at Colts (early window) or Patriots at Chargers (late window) instead of the 49ers at Bears (early window), it’s because Fox (NFC) had the 49ers-Bears rights as well as the rights to the late and early windows on Sunday, shutting out the all-AFC Titans at Colts or Patriots-Chargers game.

“Sponsorship and revenue opportunities get tied to the promotion of the game. It comes down to who’s the face you gonna put on these promos,” Scheuring said. “We know people wanna see Tua. We get that. If we show Tua 3, 4, 6 or 7 times, people are gonna get tired of seeing the Dolphins — especially if there are more compelling games.”

Especially if they keep losing as well.

It’s actually hard to argue with the NFL, which has become a TV ratings beast. The league’s ratings are averaging 16.6 million viewers, up 11% over the same period from last season, according to a report from Boston.com.

Meanwhile, ratings show Game 1 of the World Series drew 10.8 million, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The NFL has everyone paying for their product. According to multiple reports from nfl.com and The Sporting News, here are what networks and streaming services will pay for 10 years starting 2023 for exclusive live NFL rights:

>> Amazon Prime Video for Thursday games: $1 billion

>> CBS — a TV partner with the NFL for 78 consecutive years — $2.1 billion per season

>> ESPN/ABC, for Monday Night Football and a Saturday doubleheader on the final week: $2.7 billion

>> Fox (CBS/AFC): $2.2 billion

>> NBC for Sunday Night Football and Peacock, its streaming service, $2 billion

>> DirecTV, a satellite dish service, $1.5 billion

DirecTV, whose consumers would have to purchase the NFL Sunday Ticket (about $300 for four months) in order to get the games, will have its contact expire after the 2022-23 season. The NFL is likely to ask for $2 billon to $2.5 billion.

I guess when you pay that much money to the NFL, you have the right to call the shots.

And if you’re a commoner like me who doesn’t own a satellite and just watches cable, you’re stuck with whatever the major networks give you.

Thank you, sir, may I have another!

I’m just saying …

I ranted in my previous column about how the state’s bubble mentality prevented residents the opportunity to manage their own lives during this pandemic, epitomized by not allowing any fans to attend UH football games.

Just wanna throw this out:

Sunday marked the 34th consecutive day that Hawaii has been below the 5% positivity rate for COVID-19 tests.

What is the World Health Organization’s recommendation for how long governments should remain at 5% or lower before reopening? 14 days.

Hawaii remains one of the best states (Sunday’s rate was 3.14, according to Johns Hopkins; 13th among 51 states and U.S. properties under the 5.0 threshold), while Idaho (54.23) and Oklahoma (45.20) remain the worst.

My disappointment lies in our leaders for lacking the ingenuity and courage to even attempt to find a workable solution — like a gradual opening with an incremental increase of attendance — or to quickly pivot when things started to turn for the better.

If they would have tried that, maybe Hawaii fans could have witnessed UH’s upset of nationally ranked Fresno State on Oct. 2 and would have been able to see Daryl Hall & John Oates in concert.