Nantz will reach rare milestone when he calls his 500th game

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Tony Romo, left, and Jim Nantz work in the broadcast booth before a September 2017 game between the Packers and Bengals in Green Bay, Wis. Nantz will call his 500th game on Sunday. MORRY GASH — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, FILE

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Jim Nantz has called many signature events during his nearly 40 years at CBS Sports. He’ll reach a milestone on Sunday, though, that only a few NFL announcers have accomplished.

Nantz will call his 500th NFL game when the Buffalo Bills host the Denver Broncos in an AFC wild-card round game.

According to CBS records, Nantz is the first person in CBS’ storied NFL history to work 500 games as a play-by-play announcer. Pat Summerall did more than 500 games at CBS, but started as an analyst in 1962 after retiring from playing. He moved to play-by-play midway through the 1974 season.

“That’s a lot of games. It’s just staggering,” Nantz said. “With the historic relationship between the league and CBS that no one else can boast about and to think I have been given the blessing of calling more NFL games play-by-play than anyone in the network’s history, it’s meaningful and something that resonates for me.”

Nantz will be the eighth NFL TV play-by-play announcer to reach 500 games, but only the second with all of his games at one network.

Kenny Albert, who has done games since Fox got the NFL in 1994, reached the milestone on Oct. 13 when the Cleveland Browns faced the Philadelphia Eagles.

According to research from the 506 Sports Archive, Al Michaels, Dick Stockton, Don Criqui, Summerall, Kevin Harlan and Charlie Jones, are also part of The 500 Club.

Joe Buck is at 494 going into Monday night’s NFC wild-card game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams in Arizona.

Sunday will be Nantz’s 69th playoff game, including seven Super Bowls and 20 AFC championship games.

Lions OC gets Bears interview >> The Chicago Bears have interviewed Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson for their head coaching position, the team said on social media.

The Lions earned the top seed in the NFC playoffs after leading the league in points per game and finishing second in yards passing and total yards per game.

Johnson was promoted in 2022 after spending three seasons with Detroit in various roles. He helped lead the Lions to the NFC championship game last season.

The Bears interviewed former Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka on Thursday. They interviewed former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel on Wednesday.

FALCONS FIRE COACHES >> The Atlanta Falcons fired defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake and defensive line coach Jay Rodgers following first-year coach Raheem Morris’ sharp criticism of his defense’s disappointing finish.

The Falcons (8-9) missed the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season following a 44-38 overtime loss to Carolina on Sunday.