Viewers note Chris Fowler’s vocal issues on call of Chargers-Raiders MNF matchup

Longtime ESPN college football and No. 2 Monday Night Football play-by-play voice Chris Fowler is widely regarded as one of the very best in the business when he is on his A-game. But unfortunately, it was clear to most viewers of the second of ESPN’s Monday Night Football doubleheader between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Las Vegas Raiders that Fowler came into the game with some sort of ailment affecting his voice.

The first play from scrimmage put Fowler’s voice to the test, as the Chargers came up with an interception of Raiders quarterback Geno Smith.

And on Fowler’s call of the play, Fowler’s typically extremely clear and concise voice was anything but, sounding extremely raspy.

Fowler’s voice was most noticeable anytime that he would typically showcase inflection in his voice to bring emphasis and energy to big plays. This was noticeable once again when the Chargers scored the first touchdown of the game on a ten-yard pass from Justin Herbert to Keenan Allen.

It’s unclear whether Fowler was under the weather in any capacity or has simply lost his voice a bit due to his incredibly busy schedule.

Notably, Fowler was on the call of Saturday’s thrilling matchup between Georgia and Tennessee, which went into overtime.

But there were some comments that Fowler’s voice was also a bit off during Saturday’s game as well. So perhaps it could be a combination of both.

Either way, many media members tuning into the game could clearly tell that Fowler didn’t exactly sound like himself on Monday night.

“Can we give Chris Fowler a day off? I didn’t even realize it was him in the intro,” wrote Dan Katz of Barstool Sports.

“Chris Fowler sounds like he hasn’t slept since the beginning of the U.S. Open,” wrote Patrick Daugherty of NBC Sports.

“The terrible audio combined with Chris Fowler’s not 100% voice is absolutely atrocious on this game,” wrote Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina.

“Chris Fowler lost his voice,” wrote Shan Shariff of 105.3 The Fan in Dallas.

Fowler has always proven to be a consummate professional. So we may truly never hear directly from him what exactly was ailing him throughout Monday’s matchup. But it will certainly be interesting to see whether Fowler’s voice is in better shape for his Week 4 college football assignment this weekend.