Kirk Herbstreit shares video of his reaction to dramatic ending in Chicago-Green Bay playoff game
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Kirk Herbstreit provided football fans with a rarity in the wee hours of Sunday.
The former Ohio State quarterback who’s well known for being a college football analyst on ESPN veered into his other football duties on Saturday night — his spot besides legendary play-by-play announcer Al Michaels in the NFL booth on Amazon Prime Video. On this cold night at venerable Solider Field in Chicago, Herbstreit had one of the best seats in the house alongside Michaels for what is arguably the greatest rivalry in NFL history — Packers-Bears.
Both franchises are steeped in glorious tradition, and they play each other twice every season, being in the same division. But this was no regular-season game during the fall. This was a playoff game between the rivals, making the stage even grander and making the ending even more dramatic for Herbstreit, as he put on display with his crack-of-dawn post on social media.
After Chicago stormed back in the final, frantic minutes to turn a 27-16 deficit into a 31-27 lead, Green Bay had one more chance to reverse the final narrative and pull it out. The Packers were at the Bears’ 28-yard line with 7 seconds left, which meant there was time for one more play. That’s when Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love fumbled the ball after taking the snap, recovered his own fumble, then made about 100 jukes before lofting an incomplete pass that finally ended the incredible game.
The Herbstreit social media post showed Love doing all this while Herbstreit himself was making about 100 jukes in the booth, almost as if he was out on the field like Love, trying to find the best path to a game-winning touchdown. It didn’t happen for Love and the Packers, but Herbstreit’s social media followers sure got a sneak peek into just how passionate Herbstreit is about the game of football — college and pro.
Here is the video of all the drama — on the field and in the booth:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
