Jeff Joniak is a ball of energy when he broadcasts a Bears game. He’s always moving in the radio booth, unable to sit down but fixated on the action. And with most games this season dripping with drama, Joniak’s adrenaline has been overflowing.
After games, it sounds like he might as well have played.
“I know this sounds ridiculous, but I’m sore the next day,” Joniak said. “My legs, my back; everything’s sore.”
But he loves every second of it. Like players who play hard, Joniak broadcasts hard. In his 25th season as the Bears’ radio voice, the team has given him the content to showcase his ability. Ten games have come down to the wire, “nail-nibblers,” as Joniak calls them. And for only the seventh season, he’ll take that ability to the postseason, which begins next weekend.
Joniak might be best-known for his “Devin Hester, you are ridiculous” call, which originated during the Hall of Fame returner’s rookie season in 2006. But he thinks the most important call of his career came just two weeks ago on the final play of the Bears’ improbable overtime victory against the Packers.
Raw emotion spilled out of Joniak on Caleb Williams’ 46-yard, game-winning touchdown pass to DJ Moore. He said of Williams, “the ‘Iceman’ cometh, the ‘Iceman’ taketh,” and called him “Captain Crunch Time.” He went through all the pertinent details of the play and the comeback and explained the victory’s significance. It was all there.
“It was the biggest call of our 25 years,” Joniak said of himself and analyst Tom Thayer. “We both agree. We were traveling to San Francisco, we discussed it, like, yeah, that was the one. It just carries so much meaning. The Packers have a lot to do with it because they’re the boogeyman.”
Video of the call has made the rounds on social media. The Bears had a camera in the ESPN 1000 booth that captured Joniak’s gesticulations and high-fives. Joniak used to be opposed to such peeks behind the curtain, uncertain how he’d feel about turning an audio medium into a visual one.
Eventually, the Bears impressed upon him the importance of sharing those moments online. He said the Bears don’t install a camera for every game, and he doesn’t know when it’s there. That makes for authentic reactions.
“What you’ve seen in those wild moments, that’s how I am all the time,” Joniak said. “What you didn’t see in that video, the fans were ready to climb into the booth. The first time in our career, these fans were really like … it was a party. They were crazy. They were having fun.”
As much of a fan as Joniak is, he tries not to be one during broadcasts. He said he has been guilty of losing his intense focus and watching the game as a fan rather than a play-by-play voice. That’s one reason he strives to set the scene with great detail, at times even overdoing it. When the big moment arrives, he can maintain that focus. There also is this reason.
“I get this all the time from our traveling scouts who are out on the college circuit,” Jonaik said. “They’re in their car listening to the game, and they’ve told me and texted me many times, ‘Man, I saw the coverage,’ because I started calling coverages, as well. I do take great pride in this. I try to set the field as much as possible.”
Joniak said he learned a valuable lesson from the chaotic finish to the victory over the Bengals on Nov. 2. With the Bears leading 41-27 and less than five minutes left, Joniak admitted to relaxing a bit.
“I even turned to Tom [and said] time to have a cold one or something, and he goes, ‘Don’t be going down that road,’ ” Joniak said. “There were a couple minutes left in the game and I thought it was a wrap, but there were three more touchdowns after that. Always lessons learned, right? Never give up on a game one way or another.”
But the wild finish, capped by Colston Loveland’s 58-yard catch-and-run touchdown with 17 seconds left, provided another opportunity for Joniak to add to his highlight reel, and he delivered. Such dynamic plays have led to more exciting calls around the game.
“Football can get into a rut,” Joniak said. “Handoff left, handoff right. Back in the days of three yards and a cloud of dust, it was a lot of running plays. And now it’s been spiced up. So how are you going to call it? You can’t help but sometimes call things similarly. There’s only so many words that are going to pop into your head. You can’t rehearse it. So whatever comes out.”
What’s coming out of Joniak’s mouth this season is among the best work of his career.
“It’s been incredibly gratifying because in this particular season, every snap matters,” Joniak said. “And every game has been dramatic for the most part. When you’re in a game that you know is going to go down to the wire, you have to be completely dialed in. That is exactly what you want as a play-by-play announcer. You want every snap to matter.”
Remote patrol
Kevin Burkardt, Tom Brady, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will call the Lions-Bears game Sunday on Fox. It marks the fifth time that Fox has sent its top crew to a Bears game this season and third at Soldier Field.
• WGN Radio 720 will carry Sports USA’s broadcast of the NHL Winter Classic between the Rangers and Panthers at 7 p.m. Friday from loanDepot Park in Miami, home of the Marlins. TNT has the TV broadcast.