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Joe Buck was a fairly divisive broadcaster when he first started calling NFL games, but most fans have come to appreciate what he brings to the broadcast as his approach evolved. However, he still has at least one pretty notable hater: Chicago Bears owner George McCaskey.
It’s been a little over 30 years since Joe Buck was hired by Fox to cover MLB and NFL games for the network, and the self-professed nepo baby (he’s the son of legendary St. Louis Cardinals play-by-play guy Jack Buck) has been no stranger to criticism over the course of his career.
Buck managed to rub plenty of football fans the wrong way in his earlier years thanks in no small part to a perceived lack of enthusiasm (probably best highlighted by his somewhat infamous “Mitchell, Mitchell, Mitchell” call), and he may never live down the over-the-top “Disgusting Act!” proclamation we were treated to when Randy Moss “mooned” the crowd at Lambeau Field after scoring against the Packers during a playoff game in 2005.
With that said, the 55-year-old eventually managed to come into his own, and he was responsible for one of the more memorable calls in semi-recent memory thanks to the “Diggs! Sideline! Touchdown!” exclamation that accompanied the play dubbed “The Minneapolis Miracle.”
I’d argue ESPN currently boasts the best one-two punch of NFL broadcasters on any network thanks to the dynamic duo of Buck and Troy Aikman, and I think most fans would opt for those two over the top teams at CBS, Fox, and Amazon Prime if they were given the option to pick their preferred voices for a random game.
However, Chicago Bears owner George McCaskey does not fall in that camp based on what he had to say during the press conference the team held on Wednesday to officially introduce Ben Johnson as the 19th coach in franchise history.
McCaskey was asked to address the supposed conflict of interest stemming from Tom Brady calling the game between the Lions and the Commanders as the Raiders were reportedly angling to secure Johnson’s talents, and he skirted the question before going out of his way to throw a pretty random jab in Buck’s direction.
What did Bears chairman George McCaskey think of Tom Brady being on the Lions-Commanders broadcast Saturday?
“I don’t care who they put on,” he said, then added, “When Joe Buck’s on, I turn the sound down.”
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) January 22, 2025
As far as I can tell, there’s no preexisting evidence of a feud between the two men, so it’s not entirely clear why McCaskey felt the need to go after Buck entirely unprompted (the only real explanation I can think of is the general bad blood between Chicago and St. Louis).
However, I’m very here for a beef that seemingly came out of nowhere.