Al Michaels has been a staple among sports broadcasters for decades, from working for ABC Sports on “Monday Night Football” to even calling Cincinnati Reds baseball games earlier in his career.

These days, Michaels, along with ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, calls games for Amazon Prime’s “Thursday Night Football.” NFL fans watching Michaels don’t always approve of his work. Another case of this disapproval showed up on Thursday night when the Carolina Panthers faced the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis.

Al Michaels’ Broadcasting Error Draws Reactions

Around the NFL world, fans found a way to vent their frustrations by heading out to social media and dropping their comments.

So, how did Michaels’ night start? BrickCenter shared a video of the game’s very first play, when a Green Bay player fumbled the opening kickoff. Did Michaels see it? BrickCenter’s account on X posted, “Packers fumbled on the FIRST PLAY OF THE GAME … Al Michaels didn’t even realize.”

On the play, Michaels initially called the return without realizing the ball had come loose, and Carolina had recovered it. The turnover became clear only after the play had ended and possession had changed, creating an awkward opening moment for the broadcast and prompting immediate criticism from viewers.

One NFL fan shared his opinion and wrote online, “Are Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit even watching this game? A fumble on the kickoff return and they couldn’t care less.”

Sam Monson, an Irish NFL analyst, thinks that Michaels might potentially be reaching the end of his long career at some point. Monson posted online, “The Al Michaels being on delay thing…that’s him just not being able to see good anymore, right? The ball comes out, and he legit doesn’t see it for a few seconds”.

NFL writer Eli Berkovits of 247Sports thinks that Michaels may just be at the point in his career that he just cannot keep up with what’s going on in a game. Berkovits wrote, “Al Michaels genuinely has no idea what the hell is happening on the field anymore”.

Well, this NFL fan put things in focus about Michaels: “Al Michaels don’t give a damn.”

Another fan added, “It’s like he wasn’t even watching!”

One fan wrote, “Dude should retire… He’s been cooked.”

While these fans aired their grievances about Michaels, he was doing his best to get through this Thursday night matchup. Maybe it is time for Michaels to consider getting away from broadcasting.