Terry Bradshaw has been told stepping back might be the answer after he made an on-air apology during FOX NFL Sunday coverage.
The 76-year-old Pittsburgh Steelers legend has been a football television analyst and co-host on NFL Sunday since 1994 but has faced calls from fans to retire after making a number of mistakes during recent shows, including an on-air apology he made to Rob Gronkowski after mistaking his appearance.
Bradshaw appeared to confuse Gronkowski as a guest on the show rather than the regular analyst position hes held since 2022. The four-time Super Bowl champion pointed at Gronk and said: The guy whose seat youre sitting in right now, filling in for Jimmy Johnson Referencing the 81-year-old former Dallas Cowboys coach who the network announced earlier this week had been given time off.
It was swiftly pointed out to Bradshaw that the former New England Patriots tight end wasnt a stand-in but a full-time member of the show. Wow, yeah, Im a part of the show, Terry! Gronkowski said. Bradshaw quickly addressed his error and apologized. Okay, I made a mistake, he said. All right, all right, I apologize, Gronk, you know I love you.
Bradshaws latest red-faced moment has seen fans urge him to step aside from his role before FOX are possibly forced into making an awkward decision regarding his future. We are All getting older. Knowing when to walk away is important. Doing something you truly love like Terry does It becomes hard. Stepping back some might be the answer, one fan said.
A second social media user said: This seems to be happening more and more with Terry. He may want to think hard about quiet retirement soon.
While a third stated that despite the Gronk error not being an important mistake, they did feel it was time for the show to make a change. The whole Gronk sitting in for Jimmy matter is silly and not important, they wrote.
Rob Gronkowski was confused by Bradshaw (
Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)
But Bradshaw has been there a very long time and often networks need to bring in fresh and younger faces for their TV audience. Now is the time for them to make those changes, JJ too.
However, some fans urged that Bradshaws presence on the show is something that could not be replicated by another analyst. One user argued: Terrys popularity has never been his intellect, nor his insight into the game as an analyst. Its always been his personality!
Another agreed, saying: FOX sports pregame show is the only one that I watch. Even at his age and the mistakes he makes, Terry and the rest of the guys are still a HELL OF A LOT BETTER than ALL the other teams on ALL the pregame shows.
Terry adds so much humor to the show and his slip ups are fine nothing or no one harmed, added another.
Bradshaws multiple mishaps on the show this season saw him stumbling over his words trying to commentate over a highlights package. Soon after, he confused fans as he appeared to contradict himself in comments on the Chicago Bears. During last Sundays show, he also mistook Sam Darnold for Jared Goff.