Al Michaels called a fumble on the New England Patriots during the clash with the Chicago Bears, only for the ball to never come loose.

Michaels returned to the Prime booth alongside Kirk Herbstreit for the Thursday Night Football showdown between the Patriots and Bears — two 4-2 teams — at Soldier Field. The 81-year-old is often mocked online for either getting names wrong or not being as passionate as other broadcasters, with fans increasingly urging him to retire.

Michaels has worked in sports television since 1971 and has been calling NFL games since 1986. He was the voice of Monday Night Football on ABC from 1986 to 2005, and switched to NBC's Sunday Night Football in 2006 — but it didn’t take long on Thursday night for fans to call on Michaels to be axed once again.

Midway through the first quarter, with the Bears leading 3-0, Drake Maye handed the ball off to running back Corey Kiner. He juked away from linebacker D’Marco Jackson and ran straight into a big hit by defensive tackle Kentavius Street.

As both teams crowded around Kiner, with the Patriots trying to push him forward for valuable yards while the Bears were attempting to bring him down, Michaels got muddled and made a judgment call. He claimed Kiner had fumbled, but the 24-year-old was still in possession of the ball.

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

Just one problem: there was no fumble.

Fans were quick to point out the error. One user wrote: “Did Al Michaels just hallucinate a fumble?”

“He sure did,” replied an exasperated viewer.

Another account was less subtle, posting: "AL MICHAELS HAS COMPLETELY LOST IT... There was no fumble. Not even close to being a fumble.”

“Al Michaels seeing ghost fumbles now,” posted another fan. One more wrote: “I guess we are at the ‘Al Michaels completely invents a fumble’ portion of the program.”

While he is a revered voice, Michaels has faced increased calls to step down from broadcasting after making gaffes on what seems like a regular basis.

He originally announced his intention to retire in 2021, but decided to join Amazon after the company agreed to pay a lucrative $1 billion annually for the rights to stream games.

While his three-year deal with Amazon expired after the 2024 season, Michaels is essentially on a rolling contract despite fan criticism. But the streaming giant is already preparing to hire Michaels' successor and considers Ian Eagle to be one of the best in the business, although prying him from CBS may be easier said than done.