Al Michaels sounded like he was half asleep.

Angry football fans are calling for Al Michaels to retire after his less-than-enthusiastic call on Zane Gonzalez’s game-winning field goal at the end of the Atlanta Falcons-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game on Thursday night.

Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit were in the booth for the NFC South clash on ‘Thursday Night Football.’ In what surprisingly turned out to be one of the best games of 2025, Atlanta scored 15 unanswered fourth-quarter points to stun the slumping Bucs.

A legend like Michaels has made countless iconic calls throughout his broadcasting career. And yet, the man sounded like he was half asleep while calling Gonzalez’s game-winning field goal:

Disgruntled fans voiced their frustrations with Al Michaels’ disappointing call:

“can Al Michaels retire already? he’s so insufferable to listen too,” a fan wrote.

“Al Michaels with the most BORING CALL of all-time. Get him outta here,” a user quipped.

“Is that the lowest energy call of a walk-off kick in NFL History,” another said.

“Ain’t nothing wrong with him, but his call on this game-winning FG made it seem like it happened in the second quarter,😭” a fan commented.

“Al Michaels is a legend. He has had a hall of fame broadcasting career. But he has completely lost it. His enthusiasm on that game winning FG was as if it was a preseason game. It’s embarrassing for the NFL to have him calling games on Prime,” another ranted.

“Get Gus Johnson on the phone,” a fan wrote.

Countless fans have been unhappy with Michaels’ performance in the booth this season. He faced immense backlash for his performance in calling the Washington Commanders-Green Bay Packers Week 2 game.

In the New York Giants’ Week 6 home game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Michaels incorrectly stated that Saquon Barkley had been traded. Michaels corrected himself soon after, noting that the Eagles signed him as a free agent.

Al Michaels Wants To Return In 2026

Al Michaels (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
If the 81-year-old Michaels gets his way, he’ll be back in the broadcast booth next season.

During a recent interview on the “SI Media with Jimmy Traina” podcast (h/t Awful Announcing), Michaels said he wants to return in 2026. However, he acknowledged that it’s also “a two-way street.”

Michaels was the voice of the NBC Sports ‘Sunday Night Football’ program from 2006 to 2021. NBC had long planned for Mike Tirico to succeed him in the booth, so Michaels’ contract was not renewed in 2022. He then signed a multi-year deal with Amazon Prime Video, after they obtained the broadcast rights to ‘TNF’.