Al Michaels has been urged to retire by frustrated NFL fans after the legendary broadcaster appeared to call a fumble that never happened during Thursday Night Football.

The 81-year-old returned to the Prime Video booth alongside Kirk Herbstreit for the Thursday Night Football showdown between the New England Patriots and Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, and it did not take long for viewers to question his performance.

The lustre of Michaels’ storied broadcasting career has waned slightly in recent years, marked by sporadic on-air errors and a lack of passion in comparison to other commentators in the business.

While such lapses are entirely understandable as the legendary broadcaster navigates the twilight of his career, a growing cohort of fans believes it is time for the broadcasting titan to finally hang up the microphone.

A fixture of sports broadcasting since 1971—and a constant in the NFLfor 40 years—the octogenarian served as the standard-bearer for Monday Night Football on ABC between 1986 and 2005, before making the switch to NBC's Sunday Night Football in 2006.

This historic pedigree, however, has done little to shield him from the ongoing chorus of chants from a restless fanbase that is demanding to see him retire from the booth.

The incident occurred midway through the first quarter, with Chicago leading 3-0 and the Patriots attempting to make progress down the field.

Quarterback Drake Maye passed the ball to running back Corey Kiner, who initially evaded linebacker D'Marco Jackson before being met by a heavy challenge from defensive tackle Kentavius Street.

As players from both teams converged on Kiner, New England's offensive line attempted to push the running back forward, while the Bears' defence looked to bring the play to an end.

It was at this moment that Michaels lost his grip on the action, mistakenly claiming that Kiner had fumbled the football.

“And the ball comes out,” Michaels insisted. “The ball comes out this time from Corey Kiner.”

In the play that actually unfolded on the field, the Patriots retained possession, and the phantom call was quick to garner attention online, with viewers seemingly exasperated with the veteran broadcaster's recurring blunders.

"Did Al Michaels just hallucinate a fumble?" asked one fan, while another declared: "Al needs to retire. He's constantly making wrong calls week after week."

A third fan held even less back: "AL MICHAELS HAS COMPLETELY LOST IT... There was no fumble. Not even close to being a fumble," with a final comment simply asking: "What is he looking at?"

While Michaels has been a revered voice and a fixture for 40 years within the NFL, fans have become irked by the commentator's constant inaccuracies while on the microphone.

As one poster on social media wrote: "I guess we are at the ‘Al Michaels completely invents a fumble’ portion of the program."

He originally planned to step down from his post in 2021, but decided to join Amazon after the company agreed to pay a lucrative $1 billion annually for the rights to stream games.

Whilst his contract with the streaming giant originally ended in 2024, the broadcaster has continued to navigate his tenure on a year-to-year basis despite mounting fan fatigue. But the streaming giant is already preparing to hire Michaels' successor, with Ian Eagles as the premier target, though it may prove difficult to wrangle him out of the hands of CBS.