Having been one of football’s most prominent broadcasters for nearly 30 years, Kirk Herbstreit is no stranger to criticism.
And following his call of the Chicago Bears’ 40-20 win over the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football, the NFL on Prime analyst took to social media to respond to criticism that the broadcast failed to focus on a controversial call.
The play happened at the end of the third quarter when Bears wide receiver D.J. Moore caught a pass at the Commanders’ 35-yard line and turned up the field. Moore proceeded to shed a would-be tackler and seemed to be on his way to the end zone, but was called out of bounds at Washington’s 31-yard line for what was ultimately a 32-yard gain.
DJ Moore was LIVID that he was ruled out here pic.twitter.com/Pc1TUTxY1v
— Tanner Phifer (@TannerPhiferNFL) October 6, 2023
The Prime Video broadcast showed a replay of the play, with Herbstreit focusing on quarterback Justin Fields’ throw. Posting to the social media platform X after the game, Herbstreit explained why the broadcast didn’t examine whether or not Moore had actually stepped out of bounds.
“Hey. Speaking for me personally I was so locked in on the throw vs soft coverage and DJ getting another opportunity to make a big play after the catch that my attention was on his physicality and burst and didn’t see it was that close to him staying in bounds,” Herbstreit wrote. “That’s on me I apologize. FG on that drive made it 30-14. Pride myself on seeing it all-missed it being that close on the push out of bounds.”
Hey. Speaking for me personally I was so locked in on the throw vs soft coverage and DJ getting another opportunity to make a big play after the catch that my attention was on his physicality and burst and didn’t see it was that close to him staying in bounds. That’s on me I… https://t.co/3CM5ToVLuo
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) October 6, 2023
As Herbstreit noted, the drive ultimate ended with Chicago kicking a field goal to go up 30-14 in what was ultimately a 20-point win, so it’s not as if the controversial call had any effect on the outcome of the game. And despite not being credited with a touchdown on that particular play, Moore still had a huge night, catching eight passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns.
As for the broadcast failing to focus on the call, it seems to be a relatively minor oversight that likely falls just as much on the shoulders of the Prime production team as Herbstreit and Al Michaels. All things considered, it was refreshing to see Herbstreit not only publicly acknowledge the mistake, but take ownership of it as well.
