Where is Al Michaels? Mike Tirico steps in on ‘Sunday Night Football’ again

Football fans watching “Sunday Night Football” between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills likely noticed that Al Michaels was not on the call for NBC. Instead, Mike Tirico was calling the game with Cris Collinsworth, who is Michaels’ usual partner.

So what is going on?

Michaels’ contract with NBC ends after next year. The network has Tirico under contract and is possibly preparing him to take over for Michaels eventually.

Before the season, NBC and Michaels worked together on a schedule where the 76-year-old sportscaster would take some weeks off as a “bye.” This was Michaels’ idea to limit his travel.

Michaels did not call a Week 3 game between the Packers and Saints. He also did not call the Bears-Packers game the weekend after Thanksgiving (he always takes Thanksgiving off).

If Michaels was the one picking and choosing his schedule, he may have intentionally passed on traveling to Buffalo in December to avoid the cold environment.

Tirico has partnered with both Collinsworth and Tony Dungy as his analyst for games this season.

What also was surprising was that Michele Tafoya was not serving as the sideline reporter for the Steelers-Bills game. Instead, Kathryn Tappen took on those duties.