17 Sports Emmy Awards. A sports broadcasting Hall of Famer. Who would not have reverence for a commentator who boasts such a portfolio? But those have not done any good to NBC’s prominent face of Sunday Night Football Cris Collinsworth, who took the reins from the legendary John Madden in 2009. Well, Collinsworth is not new to broadcasting controversy, to be precise, accusations of bias. Just a month back, he faced serious backlash when he imitated Cowboys’ Dak Prescott’s iconic ‘Here we goooo’ call during the broadcast. Fans even went up to the extent of asking NBC to fire him. The latest episode of this hate came during the Eagles vs. Rams playoff game.

NBC was given the opportunity to call the it as FOX had Saturday night’s Lions vs. Commanders game. So, without any benefit of the doubt, they chose their best announcers, Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth. The debacle happened late in the fourth quarter when the Eagles were leading the Rams, 28-22. Los Angeles just got a stop, forcing a punt by Philadelphia. It was pouring snow at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday afternoon, with visibility minimized and the football slippery. So, Rams punt returner decided to back away from the football, choosing to not even attempt to field it.

This ended up costing the Rams some field position, but it’s better than muffing it and ending the game. It seemed like a smart decision in the snow. Collinsworth, though, chose to rip the Rams punt returner for not fielding the football. “That’s a really bad play,” Collinsworth said from the NBC broadcasting booth. Well, that’s all the Rams fans needed to explode, as they vehemently started bashing Collinsworth of talking too much in Eagles’ favor. But do you know an astonishing fact? The Eagles fans hate Collinsworth! So much so that they even launched a change.org petition calling for Collinsworth to be barred from commentating on Eagles games in the future! What happened?

Let’s go back to 2018 for the ordeal. The Eagles’ fans’ disdain for the former Cincinnati Bengals receiver finishing up his 16th season on NBC’s Sunday Night Football stemmed from the Super Bowl LII. Eagles fans first took issue with Collinsworth after Corey Clement’s second-quarter touchdown catch. Clement got 2 feet in bounds in the back of the end zone, but couldn’t get a third in. The ball moved slightly in his arms, leading Patriots fans and Collinsworth to believe it should have been overturned and called incomplete. But, as Fox’s Dean Blandino explained, Clement never lost control of the ball, meaning the call should have been upheld. It was, but Collinsworth seemed baffled.

This call was still questionable. But Collinsworth’s analysis during Zach Ertz’s game-winning touchdown was inexplicable when thought Ertz’s TD catch might (or should) have been overturned. Even Eagles defensive end Chris Long, watching a replay of the game, poked fun at Collinsworth’s comments during the review: “Ertz takes 17 steps and Collinsworth says he thinks they have to overturn it!” Indeed, he later said it was the correct call, telling The Inquirer, “I wish I’d never said that.” But by that time, the damage was done, probably for ever. And guess what? Collinsworth said ahead of the Rams game that is reason he loves the Philly!

“It’s part of the reason I love coming here. The great thing about Eagles fans is they believe that they’re unique in not being happy with things that I’ve done over the years,” Collinsworth said. To Collinsworth’s misfortune, the Eagles fans are not unique in this hate. While fans in Philly thought he was siding with the Patriots during that Super Bowl, ask fans in New England what they think of Collinsworth and they’ll bring up his mention of “Deflategate” late in Super Bowl XLIX! Fans in Buffalo will bring up his vocal admiration of Patrick Mahomes, and Chiefs fans will do the same about Bills quarterback Josh Allen. Too much no?

Top Comment by Booger

I want to like Cris Collinsworth but he definitely shows his preference when calling games. As a Bronco fan, it...more

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“The number one question I get in every town I go to, including Cincinnati, is ‘Why do you hate the fill-in-the-blank of whatever team it is?’'” Collinsworth said. “That’s the reality of my job. No matter where I go, people think I hate their team and only their team.” Irony is his ‘love’ for Patrick Mahomes was slammed on Sunday also. NFL fans said that Collinsworth was talking too much about Mahomes on Sunday. Well, he did made multiple mentions of Mahomes, who threw for 177 yards and a touchdown in KC’s 23-14 win over the Houston Texans in Saturday’s AFC divisional-round matchup. Taking all these together, the fans did not minced their words to lash out at Collinsworth.

Fans unite against Cris Collinsworth by threatening NBC with calls of mute

One of them was so frustrated that he simply wanted Collinsworth to stop talking: “Shut up, Chris Collinsworth.” Well, couldn’t have predicted a worse day in the NBC broadcasting room. With a divisional round game to call, everyone’s expectations were sky-high. They wanted a good broadcaster who beautifully presents the plays for the fans at home. This just enhances the watching experience not only for the fans of the franchises playing but also for all those neutrals watching. When that did not happen, a fan wrote, “Cris Collinsworth with a very predictable disasterclass. About to mute this mo—.”

If fans aren’t interested in them talking, then that’s a sucker punch to their broadcasting talents. However, this wasn’t the only reaction that Collinsworth got today. There was another fan who echoed those same sentiments of not being eager to listen to Collinsworth speak, “Cris Collinsworth is so horrible to listen to.” However, in September last year, NBC had a four-year contract extension Collinsworth. The extension will keep him with the network through the 2029-30 season. His current contract runs through the 2026 season. NBC is scheduled to broadcast two more Super Bowls in the next six years, including Super Bowl 60 in 2026 and Super Bowl 64 in 2030.

 See, Collinsworth just wasn’t doing things right in certain fans’ eyes. A possible member of the Rams Nation wasn’t taking the Eagles’ bias in Collinsworth comments. “Listening to Cris Collinsworth rave about the Eagles is pretty high up. On my “Worst Ways to Spend a Sunday” list.”

Like they say, when it rains, it pours. As for Collinsworth, that proverb goes well with his broadcasting duties today. Whatever he said just didn’t match the sentiments of the fans, for which he kept on getting bombarded with their anger. However, anyone can have a bad day at work. So, this isn’t the end of the road for the 65-year-old. But he might want to devise out ways to connect better with fans and get rid of the hate.