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Chris Berman is poised to play a starring role in ESPN’s “Year of the Super Bowl.”
Starting on Monday night, the sportscasting legend will begin counting down his 20 favorite Super Bowl plays, memories, and more via a weekly segment surrounding Monday Night Football.
Dubbed “Chris Berman’s Super Bowl Top 20,” the series will conclude with his No. 1 pick during the NFL Playoffs in January before ESPN’s telecast of Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14, 2027. Berman’s pre-packaged segments will run from 90 seconds to two minutes and premiere on NFL Live ahead of Monday Night Football. The segments will re-air throughout the week.
The 71-year-old has watched all 60 Super Bowls—and personally covered 44 for ESPN. During an interview with Front Office Sports, Berman fondly recalled his dad bringing home his family’s first color television set to watch Vince Lombardi’s NFL champion Packers defeat the AFL champion Chiefs on Jan. 15, 1967.
Picking 20 favorite plays and moments isn’t easy. But Berman calls it a “labor of love” as the sports cable TV giant fulfills its corporate dream of producing the country’s most-watched sporting event (ESPN will simulcast the big game on sister broadcast Disney network ABC, along with a “ManningCast” by Peyton and Eli Manning.)
So what will be on his list? Look for a mix of unforgettable plays, memorable TV/radio calls, and even some of Berman’s favorite post-Super Bowl moments from NFL Primetime. Along the way, viewers may find out some details they might not know about the Big Game and the old NFL vs. AFL rivalry. Did you know the first Super Bowl was actually called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game? Or that they replayed the game’s second-half kickoff because NBC was still in a commercial break?
“Each presentation will be a little different. We have some sound from long ago. Maybe it’s NFL Films stuff. Or guys on the set with us at Primetime over the last 20 years,” said Berman. “Take the Patriots or the Chiefs, for example. They won, here they are. If there’s a good soundbite that’s of the moment, why wouldn’t we take you, the viewer, back to that moment? So each one is a little different.”
Berman’s already shot the first couple of segments. He’s picked his top three or four moments. But he’s agonizing over the sequence. “It’s like trying to play a trifecta at the track,” he jokes.
To be clear, Berman is not arguing his Top 20 will be the definitive Super Bowl list. Instead, it’s his personal list. Everybody’s done docs about top Super Bowl plays, players, and teams over the years, he notes. That’s why he’s not limiting it just to single plays, but to his favorite memories and stories.
Take Malcolm Butler‘s stunning goal-line interception of Russell Wilson of the Seahawks to seal New England’s 28-24 win over Seattle in Super Bowl XLIX in 2015. Berman says you can’t really tell the story of that moment without showing Seattle wide receiver Jermaine Kearse’s juggling 33-yard catch down the sideline in the final minute, right before Wilson threw the fateful pick.
“You’ve got to set some of them up,” he notes.
After decades of hosting NFL Primetime, Sunday NFL Countdown, and leading ESPN’s NFL Draft and Home Run Derby coverage, the sportscaster nicknamed “Boomer” is still the living embodiment of the four letters. Berman led “The Handoff” to ESPN’s “Year of the Super Bowl” at the conclusion of Super Bowl LX. As he celebrates his 47th anniversary this year, the Lion King of Disney is increasingly visible. Consider:
- Berman and Booger McFarland are returning for their seventh season together hosting NFL Primetime. The iconic highlight show, which debuted in 1987, will stream every Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. on the ESPN app and be available on demand through Wednesday. The NFL Primetime duo will be live at SoFi Stadium from the big game on Feb. 14. Prior to ESPN’s Week 1 Monday Night Football telecast of Chiefs-Broncos, Berman interviewed both Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. It’s another example of his ability to pick up the phone and interview whatever player or coach he wants, whenever he wants.
- As Front Office Sports reported in May 2025, ESPN signed Berman to a multi-year contract extension that will take him through the company’s 50th anniversary on Sept. 7, 2029. A then 24-year-old Berman joined ESPN in October 1979, a month after the network’s launch, working the graveyard shift on SportsCenter. Under his extended deal, Berman will be the first employee to serve five decades at ESPN. In August, he was officially named a “Disney Legend” at D23 for his cultural impact.
- Berman has not called MLB’s Home Run Derby since 2016. But every year, the calls multiply from sports viewers who miss his energy and signature “Back, back, back” call. As Awful Announcing wrote: “Every year that goes by without Berman calling the Derby, fans seem to get louder in sharing how much they miss having him at the center of baseball’s home run hitting spectacle.” As Berman himself says: “I haven’t done a Home Run Derby in 10 years. But I’ve gotten better every year… I’m Vin Scully.”
ESPN is wheeling out its biggest talent guns to directly connect its primetime Monday Night Football with its first Super Bowl telecast. Leading into each MNF broadcast, the network will air “Super Bowl Signature Moments” on Monday Night Countdown. Joe Buck, who’s poised to call his seventh Super Bowl with partner Troy Aikman, will then incorporate the weekly vignettes into the actual game telecasts.
Following each MNF game, Scott Van Pelt will offer a “Walk of Game” moment, naming the “Player of the Game.” That will serve to tee up Aikman and Buck’s post-game breakdown. The new elements come on top of ESPN’s weekly “I Scored a Touchdown” series and Jeremy Schaap’s new digital show, The Biggest Game.
Look for Berman, Buck, Aikman, Stephen A. Smith, Pat McAfee, Lisa Salters, Laura Rutledge, and other ESPN stars to appear in a new installment of the “We’re Going” to Super Bowl LX marketing campaign. With the Super Bowl LXI falling on Presidents’ Day weekend for the first time, ESPN wants to set a new record for the most-watched big game of all time, according to Rutledge.
As a kid, Berman would attend every Jets home game at Shea Stadium with his father and brother to cheer on Joe Namath. Berman’s still cagey about his list. But when it comes to the MVP of Super Bowl III, it’s a safe bet you’ll see that clip of a victorious Broadway Joe jogging off the field with his index finger waving in the air. During one trip to Miami’s old Orange Bowl, Berman recreated Namath’s famous moment.
“I went down the same tunnel. I did the same thing. I ran off the field. It was frigging great,” Berman says. “So to answer your question? Joe Willie’s in there.”
