Tony Romo, Jim Nantz Had The Worst Super Bowl-Winning Call Of All The Broadcasts
An average of 123.7 million viewers watched the Super Bowl between the Chiefs and 49ers on Sunday, marking it the highest-rated telecast on record.
While the vast, vast majority of fans heard CBS' Jim Nantz and Tony Romo narrate the game, some fans consumed the game via an alternative broadcast.
CBS pays Nantz and Romo a combined $27 million a year. And yet, their call of the closing moment of the game – in which Patrick Mahomes threw a walk-off touchdown in overtime to Mecole Hardman – was the weakest among the many narrations of the play.
Here were Romo and Nantz:
"This was the Andy Reid special!" said Romo. "This was the Andy Reid special we talked about he was saving all day. He’s gonna fake a motion to go across and at that moment he turns into his back.
"Hardman, who they didn’t have, right? And they go get Hardman and bring him back and the game-winning drive of Mahomes’ career he’s been waiting for, he’s never had it in an overtime. He is the best, he is the standard and Michael Jordan wins it again."
Romo talked over the aftermath of the play instead of letting the crowd and natural sounds of the game tell the story. Nantz was fine. But he lacked the enthusiasm one would hope for while calling the rare walk-off Super Bowl win.
Contrast the CBS call with the radio call on Westwood One with Kevin Harlan:
"Their third Super Bowl in 5 years. The Chiefs are back-to-back Super Bowl champions. The Chiefs are a dynasty."
Short, yet poetic.
Harlan, who calls NFL games on CBS during the regular season, is a better big-game play-by-play commentator than Jim Nantz. It's not particularly close.
In fact, Amazon should look to hire Harlan to replace Al Michael on Thursday Night Football after his contract expires next season.
It wasn't just the final moments that Harlan perfected. He built intensity as Mahomes walked to the line. On CBS, Romo made weird noises trying to mimic confused fans whom he presumed the ticking clock befuddled.
"What's going on …"
The Chiefs radio broadcast, featuring the always-superb Mitch Holthus, earned another 10 for 10 for his call:
You can watch highlights of the Super Bowl synced up with Holthus' calls of the game below:
ESPN broadcasters Chris Fowler, Dan Orlovsky, and Louis Riddick handled the call for the ESPN International broadcast in Australia and New Zealand.
They, unlike CBS, let the emotions of the fans handle the moment with the most subtle of calls:
Unbelievable," Riddick said.
"He’s the best player I’ve ever seen in my life," Orlovsky said of Mahomes.
That was all the listeners needed.
Heck, even the alternative broadcast on Nickelodeon with Noah Eagle was better done than the main CBS feed.
Of course, Eagle had help from SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star.
Seriously:
I don’t speak Korean. But the following sounds exciting, no?
The only call we can definitively rank above Nantz and Romo’s is the 49ers radio call. But they don’t count. Can you imagine the feelings, the devastation that sunk in as the play took place?
Rough.
Ultimately, CBS has a problem. Tony Romo is not good at his job. At least not anymore.
He makes little sense with his odd phrasings. He lacks chemistry with Nantz. He sounds unprepared, thus trying to overcompensate with unnecessary dialogue.
Romo's limitations showed during the most-watched broadcast in its history. Not ideal.
Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady – yes, Tom Brady – are up next as Fox Sports is set to broadcast the Super Bowl next season.