Mike Tirico, set to call his first Super Bowl, is still in awe of Rams-Bears playoff game, miracle TD

“So here we go, fourth-and-four.”

That’s how NBC’s Mike Tirico began his call of Caleb Williams’ miraculous touchdown pass to Cole Kmet in the Bears’ divisional playoff against the Rams. But he doesn’t know why the next words came out of his mouth.

“Kmet in motion.”

That’s what Tirico said, just after Williams took the snap from the 14-yard line with 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter, even though Kmet was no longer in motion. He had begun his route toward the end zone.

“For whatever reason, Lord knows why, I mentioned that Kmet was in motion,” Tirico said a week later from his home in suburban Detroit. “I usually try not to there, but for whatever reason, I saw a short motion by the tight end. I’m like, Hmm. So I knew Kmet was there.”

Meanwhile, Williams was retreating … and retreating more. Tirico had watched almost every Bears game this season, so he knew that Williams was capable of making some incredible plays. But surely this wouldn’t be one of them.

“As he’s retreating,” Tirico said, “I don’t have time to fully process all this, but in your mind, perhaps in my voice, OK, there’s no possible way. It’s midnight for Cinderella at the ball.”

On the air, Tirico said, “Williams drifting … sprinting for space … in all kinds of trouble … put it up for grabs in the end zone …”

And there was the man in motion.

“Kmet! He got it … for the touchdown! They’ve done it again! Unbelievable!”

After Cairo Santos kicked the extra point, Tirico said, “I don’t believe this team.”

Tirico will call his first Super Bowl on Sunday when the Seahawks and Patriots meet in Santa Clara, California. But in this conversation, he was still in awe of that Rams-Bears game at Soldier Field, from the national anthem to the crowd to the snow — to that throw.

“The whole moment just felt really, really vibrant to me,” Tirico said. “And I’m proud to say that I still am a fan. Not a fan of a team. I’m a fan of great sports. That was an all-time great moment. That was a play I will forever cherish being a part of.”

Tirico was overjoyed just to be able to call the game. The NFL delayed finalizing the divisional-round schedule until after the Monday night wild-card game between the Texans and Steelers. So Tirico learned that NBC would broadcast the Rams-Bears game when everyone else did.

“I cannot tell you how excited I was sitting in the chair in my office because we didn’t know what game we were doing,” he said. “When we saw that we had the game in Chicago, I let out a yelp. I was excited because I get to do a playoff game in Solider Field.

“There only have been 17 playoff games at Soldier Field, and you get to do one. What a treat, my god. And then the game and the team and the snow. I just love all of it. I’m a sucker for that stuff.”

Tirico said if he could make the call again, he’d edit out the “I.” He doesn’t want to insert himself into the broadcast. It’s not about him. But he can be forgiven for being authentic in the moment.

“It was genuine and real,” Tirico said. “I said, ‘I don’t believe this team.’ I still don’t. We can be professional and root for both teams.”

But Tirico admitted to being envious of the broadcasters who root for one team.

“I’ve always been jealous of, let’s say a Pat Hughes or Jeff Joniak, who can live or die with the Cubs and the Bears every day,” Tirico said. “But yet they are professional. They’re not homers, but you know that they have the home team’s outcome in their soul. I’ve always wanted to be one of those guys.

“But you just root for a great game. And that was as great a playoff game in as great a playoff setting as you could ever ask for. I proudly put my hand up and say, ‘Guilty of being a fan of the moment.’ ”

Tirico hopes to have another such moment Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, where he’ll become the first U.S. broadcaster to call the big game and host the Winter Games in the same year, let alone the same day.

It’ll be a long day. It’ll begin in the middle of the night when he wakes up to watch U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn try to win gold in the downhill at age 41 with a torn-up left knee. The event in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, is scheduled to start at 2:30 a.m. Pacific time.

“If there’s a night where you can’t sleep, it’s the greatest night possible,” Tirico said.

But he’ll need his rest. The Super Bowl will be longer than the hundreds of football games he has called because of more commercials and a half-hour halftime. That halftime, though, will give Tirico more time to prepare for the hour-and-a-half Olympics show, which he’ll host after the trophy presentation from a set on the field.

Then he’ll board a plane to Milan to host on-site, arriving late Monday to begin working daytime and prime-time shows Tuesday.

“That’s a night that I’ll be able to sleep,” he said.