1ST & KEN? NOT FOR VILMA
Instead of Albert, Fox NFL TV analyst had different partners for first 2 games, but he survived trial by fire
In 125 regular- season games during his 10year NFL career, former Jets and Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma played three games against the Bears.
On Sunday, in his sixth game as a Fox TV analyst, Vilma will call his third game involving the Bears, who visit the Panthers at noon.
Talk about the law of averages. Those six games have been anything but average for Vilma, who hasn’t taken long to transition from the college football studio at ESPN/ ABC to the NFL booth at Fox, despite a revolving door of partners.
Vilma, 38, saw a future for himself in broadcasting during his playing days with the Saints. Every Sunday, he would recap the game in a 15- minute segment on local TV. After retiring following the 2013 season, he worked for one year at NBC/ NBC Sports Network covering Notre Dame, then spent four at ESPN/ ABC.
Fox had an opening after not renewing Ronde Barber’s contract. Vilma first connected with Fox executives during Super Bowl week in Miami, where he told them of his desire to call more games. He had worked only a handful before.
“I did a couple of bowl games and the UM [ Miami] game,” said Vilma, who was an AllAmerican with the Hurricanes in 2003. “It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the energy of the crowd, even though there’s no crowd right now. It got me closer to the game than being in the studio. When you get closer to the game, the energy and the nostalgia kick in.”
Vilma’s audition had to be modified because of the coronavirus pandemic. Normally, broadcasters call a recorded game off a monitor in a studio, with a partner sitting next to them. Vilma auditioned via Zoom.
The 49ers’ 48- 46 victory over the Saints from Dec. 8, 2019, played on the shared screen. Vilma analyzed the game from his home, and Kevin Burkhardt called the playby- play from his.
“I just had to get a feel on the fly of how he was going to call the game and go from there,” Vilma said. “I kept that old saying: Keep it simple, stupid. So I was like, I know football, so I’m gonna talk football. I’ll work on all the other stuff if I get the job. Fortunately, it worked out well.”
Vilma prides himself on watching game film. Before the audition, he watched a few 49ers and Saints games to help him prepare.
“Once I did that, I was in my comfort zone,” he said. “And then I just had to focus
more. All right, this is what I see. I’ll call it, and hopefully I won’t step on Burkhardt’s toes.”
But Kenny Albert would be Vilma’s partner on Fox’s No. 3 team. To get to know Albert and his style, Vilma watched some of his games from last season. That proved beneficial when the NFL canceled the preseason, robbing them of the chance to prepare together. They talked often in the offseason to get better acquainted.
“Obviously, he’s a pro’s pro,” Vilma said of Albert, who has called NFL games for Fox since it acquired the NFC package in 1994. “He does a tremendous job.”
But the day before their first game, the Bears- Lions season opener, it was revealed that Albert had to quarantine for two weeks because he was coming from another country. He had been calling the Stanley Cup playoffs from the safety of the NHL’s bubble in Edmonton, but the NFL stuck to its rules.
At the last minute, Fox flew Dick Stockton from his Arizona home to Detroit. The next week, Vilma had a little more notice about his fill- in partner, Brandon Gaudin, and the two talked a lot in preparation for the game. Still, it was trial by fire for the rookie Vilma.
“That was very interesting,” Vilma said. “The way I looked at it, it was similar to my Zoom interview. Why don’t I just play off of them, don’t step on their toes. It was a crash course with Dick Stockton, who’s done it longer than I’ve been alive. It was like, All right, go ahead, Dick. I’ll jump in, and you kind of steer the ship here.”
Vilma’s first game with Albert was Bears- Falcons in Week 3, when Bears coach Matt Nagy benched quarterback Mitch Trubisky for Nick Foles. Watching the sideline, Vilma had a premonition a change was coming at some point.
“I distinctly remember Nagy was shaking his head up and down the sideline in frustration,” Vilma said. “It was only a matter of time. One, they were losing. Two, you’ve got a frustrated coach, and he’s an offensive guy, so I know why he’s frustrated.”
While Vilma has watched the Bears’ offense sputter, he sees the foundation of a playoff team on defense.
“You can go back to the last Super Bowl. What carried the 49ers? Great defense,” Vilma said. “What was the difference from the year before to last year for the Chiefs to finally win it all? Their defense. It will never change. You have to have a good defense, and [ the Bears] have the makings of a playoff defense. The offense doesn’t have to be like Kansas City. It just needs to produce a little more scoring. That’s it.”