Fox play-by-play voice Joe Davis became quite familiar with the Bears’ plight last season. Of the network’s 11 Bears games, Davis and analyst Daryl “Moose” Johnston called five. Four of them were losses, and the last three were part of a 10-game losing streak.
“We were pulling for the Bears to make a turnaround, as much as any neutral party could, just because we seemed to be on their tail last year,” Davis said Wednesday. “Even during the 10-game losing streak, it had plenty of compelling angles to it. It still did have this feeling, no matter how bad they were, the turnaround was not that far off.”
That turnaround hit pause with a horrendous showing in a season-opening loss to the Packers. And as luck would have it, Davis and Johnston, who form Fox’s No. 2 crew with sideline reporter Pam Oliver, will be in the booth Sunday for the Bears’ game against the Buccaneers with the chance to call their 12th consecutive loss.
Davis figured Fox gave him the Bears so much last season because of their fan following, Chicago’s market size and the attention paid to quarterback Justin Fields. Whether Fields and the team resume their turnaround could dictate how much Davis sees them this season. He’s curious to see if the Bears can show that Week 1 was an anomaly.
“If it’s anything short of that, you’re really worried as a Bears fan,” Davis said. “You turned the page from last year when every loss you could couch as you’re building for the future. But they got whupped last week when the whole idea is now they should be ready to compete, and they looked so far from having those expectations.”
Davis called his first full slate of NFL games last season after being promoted to the No. 2 team amid a flurry of broadcaster moves across networks. Davis said he felt great about the progress he and Johnston made together and gratified to be able to maintain that continuity this season.
“‘Moose’ and I approach it the same way,” Davis said. “We really do try to look at each game as a chance to get better. We go back and we watch closely; we try to learn things and apply them the next week. We were both proud of where we were at the end compared to where we were at the beginning. Last week we had our first game, and it felt like we had been working together forever.”
Growing up a Lions fan in Potterville, Michigan, Davis, 35, knew Johnston more as a broadcaster than a Cowboys fullback on three Super Bowl winners. He recalls watching Johnston and Oliver on many Lions games. Davis said he and Johnston, 57, joke about their age difference.
At this time of year, Davis has more on his plate than football. He spoke on his way to Baltimore to call the Rays-Orioles game Thursday on Fox. Davis, whose first broadcasting job was calling Schaumburg Flyers games in 2009, is in his eighth season as the Dodgers’ TV voice, and last season was his first as Fox’s lead MLB voice after Joe Buck left for ESPN.
Fox has the American League postseason this year, which includes up to three Sunday games. That figures to remove Davis from double duty, but his October schedule isn’t finalized. As good as Davis is on football, he excels on baseball. He had a memorable call of Bryce Harper’s go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of the Phillies’ National League pennant clincher — “Harper! The swing of his life!”
“I’m doing fewer Dodger games this year,” Davis said, “so I have so much more in the tank because I’ve had more days of rest this summer, more chances to be at home with my family. Those batteries are fully charged going into what’s always a crazy stretch.”
