Terry Bradshaw showed up to work Sunday morning and didn’t make it to air.
The 77-year-old Fox NFL Sunday analyst came to the studio sick and was sent home before the show started, leaving Curt Menefee, Howie Long, and Michael Strahan to work as a trio for the network’s pregame coverage.
“Terry Bradshaw’s not with us,” Menefee said during the show. “He came to work sick this morning, so he decided to go home.”
“He decided to go home? We sent him home,” Strahan quipped.
Terry Bradshaw was sent home sick today, so Curt Menefee, Howie Long, and Michael Strahan are flying as a trio this week on Fox NFL Sunday.pic.twitter.com/3dskYLPLOE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 16, 2025
Bradshaw posted to Instagram before the show went on air, telling followers he had a cold and wouldn’t be on Fox. “Just in case you notice, won’t be on Fox today,” he wrote. “Just have a cold. All good.”
View this post on Instagram
This isn’t the first time Bradshaw has missed the show due to illness. He was absent from Fox’s NFC Championship coverage in January 2024 after Menefee announced he was “a little under the weather.” That absence was notable because Bradshaw has been part of Fox NFL Sunday for all 31 seasons since the show launched in 1994, and he typically presents the championship trophies after playoff games.
Bradshaw has continued working through on-air mistakes that have drawn attention this season. He expressed concern about Rams kicker Joshua Karty during Fox’s pregame coverage of the Rams-49ers game earlier this month, not realizing Karty had already been benched. Strahan tried to help by noting the Rams lost to San Francisco earlier in the season, but incorrectly said it came on a missed field goal when the game actually ended on a stuffed fourth-down run.
Sunday’s absence appears minor based on Bradshaw’s Instagram post. Fox has operated with smaller crews before when needed. Menefee, Long, and Strahan handled the pregame coverage without Bradshaw. Rob Gronkowski, who joined the show this season after Jimmy Johnson retired following 30 years with Fox, was also absent from the broadcast.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.