Logo

The Bears-Commanders game was another “Thursday Night Football” snoozefest and announcer Al Michaels couldn’t take it.

Late in the second quarter of the Commanders’ 12-7 win, Carson Wentz threw deep for Curtis Samuel. The throw was accurate, but the ball went right through Samuel’s hands and fell incomplete.

Kirk Herbstreit, the analyst in the booth for Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” games, said Samuel just mistimed his jump, or it would have been a touchdown. At that point, there had been 39 drives without a touchdown scored on Thursday night slates and Michaels had had enough.

God forbid,” Michaels replied, sarcastically.

Last week, the primetime matchup was a field-goal-fest between the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos. The score at the half was 6-3 and had the internet begging for a different game. There were 12 punts and no touchdowns in the overtime bore.

Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson and Colts quarterback Matt Ryan each threw two interceptions and the game ended on a failed Broncos fourth-down conversion in overtime on the Indianapolis 5-yard line.


  Velus Jones Jr. muffs a punt for the Bears. AP Velus Jones Jr. muffs a punt for the Bears. AP

On Tuesday, Michaels told the “Waddle and Silvy” show that if they don’t have a better game than last Thursday, he may retire.

“If we don’t have a better game than we had last Thursday, then I may retire,” Michaels told the ESPN Chicago radio hosts. “I’ve done pretty close to 800 NFL games, and with all due respect, guys are trying. I understand and we all know that, but that was grim.”

It is Michaels’ first year in the Thursday night booth after years calling the marquee Sunday night matchup for NBC. The legendary broadcaster will probably, hopefully, not retire after the game Thursday night, but he certainly didn’t get a better one.

The game was scoreless throughout most of the first half before a Commanders’ field goal with 46 seconds left in the second quarter broke the drought.


  Two Broncos receivers collide going up for a catch during their loss to the Colts. AP Two Broncos receivers collide going up for a catch during their loss to the Colts. AP

  Al Michaels Getty Images Al Michaels Getty Images

The first touchdown of the game came early in the third quarter, on a Justin Fields’ 40-yard pass to Dante Pettis to give the Bears a 7-3 lead. The Bears clung to a lead till midway through the fourth quarter when punt returner Velus Jones muffed a punt inside Chicago’s 10-yard line. The Commanders punched it in on a Brian Robinson 1-yard rush. They would fail on their two-point conversion, bringing the score to 12-7, which is where it stayed.

Michaels 77, should finally get more offense next week when the Saints travel to Arizona to play the Cardinals. New Orleans is averaging 23 points per game, while the Cardinals are averaging 21.

Comments
anonymous profile image
Powered by RoundtableBuilt on infrastructure designed for real-time media. Learn more at RTB.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy