FOX NFL surely enjoyed a historic regular season on multiple fronts, and while the numbers boomed, viewers were also left with a season packed with memories—from Charissa Thompson’s emotional Instagram post praising her colleagues to the on-air chemistry between Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady. So naturally, when Burkhardt bid farewell to a season that ended early, we all felt a little emotional. 

“Thankful for my Team. What a year! @tombrady @erinandrews @dean.blandino (dammit, Rinaldi get IG),” Burkhardt wrote on his Instagram story, which was accompanied by a visual of the viewership of the NFC championship game.

According to that, FOX Sports averaged 46 million viewers for the Seattle Seahawks’ 31-27 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. In fact, their viewership peaked at 46,690,000 between 9:30 and 9:45 PM. Not just this, the viewership was up by 4% over last year’s NFC Championship game between the Commanders and the Eagles (44,153,000).

Additionally, the FOX NFL Sunday recorded its best viewership since 2022 with an average of 4.4 million viewers. The FOX NFL Kickoff show had its best season since 2019 with an average of 1.3 million viewers.

However, with the regular season now wrapped up, when asked whether the end of the year felt emotional, Andrews also didn’t hold back. She admitted it hit her hard, repeating the word “yes” over and over to drive the point home. While saying goodbye to the sidelines is a familiar routine for her every winter, it clearly doesn’t make the transition any easier.

Even for the fans, it feels a bit strange to go several months without seeing this specific crew. This was a big year for the group because it was Tom Brady’s second full season working as an analyst. He worked alongside Kevin Burkhardt in the booth, while Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi reported from the sidelines. And while they won’t be at Super Bowl 60, they will surely be watching the Seahawks and Patriots from home like everyone else.

This year, the Seattle Seahawks will face off against the New England Patriots on February 8, 2026, and you can catch all the action on NBC, the official home of Super Bowl 60 this time around. Because NBC is broadcasting the big game, the season actually ended a little early for FOX.

FOX finished its NFL coverage after the NFC Championship game, and their famous broadcasting team is officially heading into its summer break. While that’s that, the Super Bowl action is heating up.

Tom Brady will not be announcing Super Bowl 60

If anyone is qualified to give expert insight on the New England Patriots and the Super Bowl, it is the man who won six of them there. After making a stellar debut in the broadcast booth last year alongside Kevin Burkhardt, NFL legend Tom Brady has proven he can handle the mic just as well as the football. However, the seven-time Super Bowl champion will not be in the announcer’s booth for this year’s Big Game because of a simple matter of network rights.

As an employee of FOX Sports, Brady is tied to that network’s schedule. The NFL rotates Super Bowl broadcasting rights every season among four major networks: NBC, ABC, FOX, and CBS. This season, NBC holds the exclusive rights, which means their veteran crew of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth will be the ones calling the plays. 

However, Brady will still be at the 2026 Super Bowl in Santa Clara, California. During the FOX broadcast of the NFC Championship, he confirmed he would be attending as a spectator to cheer on the Patriots as they chase their seventh Lombardi Trophy.

“I’m going to be there in San Francisco watching in my hometown,” he said.

The Patriots and the Seahawks have met in the Super Bowl once before, in 2015, a game where Brady famously led New England to a dramatic 28-24 victory. 

He would have been the perfect analyst for this game, as he could have shared firsthand stories about outmaneuvering Seattle’s legendary “Legion of Boom” defense during one of the most iconic wins of his career.