NFL forced Al Michaels to backtrack on statement during 'TNF'

Los Angeles Chargers owner Dean Spanos talks with sportscaster Al Michaels and John Spanos, President of Football Operations, prior to the game against the Denver Broncos at SoFi Stadium. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

NFL forced Al Michaels to backtrack on statement he made during 'TNF' game

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Renzo Pocholo Salao | Last updated Oct 24, 2025 8:01 AM ET

Al Michaels had to hit the “undo” button while on the call for Thursday night’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

During the first half of the contest, Michaels spoke about Vikings kicker Will Reichard, who entered the game with his lone field-goal miss of the season being one potentially deflected by a SkyCam wire. The veteran announcer mentioned the wire fiasco on the broadcast.

The NFL wasn’t happy about it and later made Michaels clarify that Reichard’s supposedly deflected kick during the Vikings’ Week 5 game against the Cleveland Browns in London was not actually deflected at all.

“The league wants to take my lunch away,” said Michaels as Reichard lined up for a field-goal try in the third quarter.

“Because I said before that Reichard’s only miss was hitting a wire in London. The league says, ‘No, no, it was an optical illusion.’ Not what Reichard thinks. Anyway, there you have it. We cleaned it up. Always cleaning up our mess. My mess.”

Earlier in the game, Al Michaels mentioned that #Vikings K Will Reichard’s only missed FG this year was the one that hit a camera wire in London.

He now says the league told him to correct himself that it was an optical illusion.pic.twitter.com/b37MeCAF9m
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 24, 2025

Reichard missed his second official kick during Thursday’s game — a 53-yard field-goal attempt to close out the first half. It didn’t factor into the game’s final result, as the Vikings lost to the Chargers 37-10.

Reichard protested to the NFL earlier this month to have the missed field goal removed, which would have restored his then-perfect season. The kicker’s agent claimed the league acknowledged the referees should have given Reichard a redo due to the wire mishap, but just opted not to correct the mistake retroactively.

Based on Michaels’ clarifying statement on Thursday night, however, the NFL no longer agrees (or never did) that the wire had anything to do with ruining Reichard’s shot at a perfect kicking season.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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