Plain and simple, his passion keeps him going

Collinsworth’s love of football, and folksy style, mark analyst’s path to 500th game.

- By Sam FaRMER

CRIS COLLINSWORTH, who will work the Rams' game on Sunday, is known for making the sport accessible.

(ROBERT GAUTHIER Los Angeles Times)

Mr. Preparation was unprepared for this.

Not until NBC informed him did Cris Collinsworth have any clue that Sunday night at SoFi Stadium would be his 500th NFL game as a color analyst. He wouldn't have guessed that Tampa Bay at the Rams would put him anywhere close to that.

“That was just stunning to me,” said the folksy Collinsworth, still lanky and boyish at 66. “If you'd asked me, I would have said I'd worked maybe 250 or 300 games. ... Wow, how did that happen?”

The former Cincinnati Bengals receiver, who once planned to be a lawyer after his playing career, has had 13 play-by-play partners, 17 seasons in the “Sunday Night Football” booth, 18 Sports Emmys ... and a singular passion.

“You've got to really love football, and that’s what it’s come down to for him,” said his son, Jac, a football host on NBC since 2020. “Growing up, he was always up at 6 a.m., watching film until we got home from school or practice. He’d eat dinner, then go right back down.”

Collinsworth has called NFL games in 52 different stadiums, quite a feat in a league with 32 teams (four of whom share venues). He has worked five different Rams home-game sites, for instance: SoFi, the Coliseum, the Edward Jones Dome and Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium).