This Is Us Super Bowl episode will be supersized — sort of

This Is Us is gearing up for its biggest episode ever — yes, the one in which you apparently will find out how Jack Pearson died. Now comes news that the NBC family drama’s biggest episode will be its longest ever. By a little bit.

The pivotal installment — which airs Feb. 4 in the highly coveted post-Super Bowl slot — will run approximately three minutes longer than a normal episode. (No, it’s not a lot longer, but approximately three extra minutes of crying is at least something.) You will notice that the episode will be scheduled on your DVR listings as beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET/7:15 p.m. PT and running 80 minutes in length, but that extra time was provided as a buffer, given the uncertainty of when the game will end. Following the episode and late local news, The Tonight Show will welcome the stars of This Is Us.

The Super Bowl episode is the family drama’s most-anticipated (or dreaded) episode to date. Last week’s installment — the last one that will air before the Super Bowl — concluded with that long-teased fire ripping through the Pearson house after the family’s Crock-Pot went on the fritz, seemingly spelling what is to be the end for Jack (Milo Ventimiglia). Ventimiglia calls Jack’s looming death “an absolute soul-crushing event,” while This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman hints that the Super Bowl episode is “thrilling,” “brutally heartbreaking,” “surprising” “sad,” and “rewarding,” among other things.

To find out what else Milo Ventimiglia had to say about Jack’s death, click here.

To read clues about the Super Bowl episode from Sterling K. Brown, head here.

To get even more hints about Jack’s demise from creator Dan Fogelman, click here.