Through Week 9 of the 2025 NFL season, 69 games have been decided by one score (with a tie).
Some teams are more familiar with close games than others. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers set the table by scoring go-ahead touchdowns in the final minute in three straight games to start the season. The Jacksonville Jaguars, Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers each have played five games decided by one score. The Minnesota Vikings have had six one-score games, and have the closest point differential in the league (minus-4).
But no team knows end-of-game drama quite like the CBS broadcast crew of play-by-play announcer Spero Dedes, analyst Adam Archuleta, and sideline reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala. Through Week 9, eight of their games have been one-score decisions, three of which were one-point classics.
Dedes, Archuleta and Kinkhabwala are in their third year calling games together for CBS. Their built-up camaraderie has been instrumental in their ability to narrate late-game swings and bring the action, excitement and emotion to viewers at home. Their assignments might not be the A-list games each week, but they haven’t disappointed.
This crew has seen it all: an interception-turned-fumble-turned-touchdown and a walk-off field goal (Tennessee Titans–Arizona Cardinals), a blocked walk-off field goal (Chicago Bears–Las Vegas Raiders), two snapped losing streaks, and a trick-play go-ahead touchdown (New York Jets–Cincinnati Bengals). They’ve also called the only victories this season for both the Titans and Jets — two of the league’s three one-win teams (along with the New Orleans Saints).
“If you were going to pick out your game preseason, you’d say ‘I’d never want this game,’” Archuleta said. “But now, these are the only games I’d want to do and be a part of. You’ve got to really approach this job with a lot of gratitude.
“And the football gods have been good to our crew this year.”
The Bears beat the Raiders on this blocked field goal attempt. (Kiyoshi Mio / Imagn Images)
• Week 1: Raiders beat Patriots, 20-13
• Week 2: Cardinals beat Panthers, 27-22
• Week 3: Texans beat Jaguars, 17-10
• Week 4: Beats beat Raiders, 25-24 (blocked walkoff)
• Week 5: Titans beat Cardinals, 22-21 (walkoff field goal)
• Week 6: Patriots beat Saints, 25-19
• Week 7: Browns beat Dolphins, 31-6
• Week 8: Jets beat Bengals, 39-38
• Week 9: Bears beat Bengals, 47-42
Last week, the trio was in Cincinnati covering the Bears-Bengals last-minute thriller. Chicago led by two scores with under two minutes to go. Kinkhabwala was working the Bears’ sideline, preparing for a postgame interview with who looked like he would be the star of the game: Kyle Monangai. In his first start, the Bears’ rookie running back tallied 198 all-purpose yards, including 176 rushing.
But then Joe Flacco led the Bengals to 15 points in 49 seconds (with the help of a successful onside kick). Kinkhabwala rushed to the Cincinnati sideline, trading in the narrative around the Bears’ young breakout star for the 40-year-old breathing life into the Bengals.
And as this crew has learned well this season, it isn’t over until it’s over.
Caleb Williams answered for the Bears, connecting with rookie tight end Colston Loveland for the game-winning 58-yard touchdown.
Kinkhabwala ran back to the Bears’ sideline, now focused on the Williams-Loveland moment. A little winded? Sure. Surprised? Not anymore.
“So much of this is you have to be ready for anything,” Kinkhabwala said.
“I made this mistake earlier in my career. A lot of times, a game seems like it’s out of hand and you start talking like the game’s over, start talking about their next opponent and showing the upcoming schedule,” Dedes said. “Then all of a sudden it’s a one-score game.”
“We drafted him for a reason — to make plays like that in the big moments”
– Caleb Williams on @ChicagoBears rookie Colston Loveland (@AKinkhabwala) pic.twitter.com/H7JzgUqTx4
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) November 2, 2025
Dedes, Archuleta and Kinkhabwala know their roles when it comes to game-defining moments. Dedes threads the delicate needle of telling the story of the game while letting the unpredictability of big moments speak for themselves. Kinkhabwala digs into her reporting roots, providing updates from the sideline and insight from interviews leading up to the game.
Archuleta was a former NFL safety before beginning his broadcast career in 2012. His experience helps him break down a game’s X’s and O’s. But when it comes to a down-to-the-wire decision, he puts himself in the shoes of a fan.
“The hardest thing for me in this career is that I didn’t grow up a fan,” Archuleta said. “I was always playing or thinking about the game itself. And so it’s hard for me to have the emotional swings that a true fan really has.
“For me, it’s always about the X’s and O’s and the strategy and all this stuff, and that can get pretty serious and boring. My biggest challenge is trying to give insight, care about the stuff I care about, but also try to feel the game as a fan would.”
Week 8 sent the crew to Jets-Bengals. Days before, Jets owner Woody Johnson publicly called out Justin Fields, saying, “It’s hard when you have a quarterback with a rating that we’ve got,” among other jabs placing blame on the first-year Jet for the team’s 0-7 start.
In production meetings that week, Kinkhabwala said she noticed a change in Fields’ demeanor. She’s known Fields since his pro day in 2021, and covered him last season while he was with the Steelers. But the weight of what was transpiring in New York was obviously taking a toll.
So, after Fields helped lead the Jets to 23 fourth-quarter points and a one-point win, Kinkhabwala let the young quarterback’s emotion tell the story. “Give us one of those smiles,” Kinkhabwala asked at the end of their postgame interview.
“I’m a mom, I think like a mom. This poor young man is doing everything that he possibly can, and everything is raining down on him,” Kinkhabwala said. “And so when you watch him gain some confidence on the sideline, when you see him smile, when you see some of that swagger come back, the shoulders seemingly go up, you have to notice that.
“I mean, how can you not be happy for someone who’s been through that to then have a moment like that?”
“God is good. That’s all I gotta say.” – Justin Fields with our @AKinkhabwala after the Jets first W of the season pic.twitter.com/BX1JHMNJiK
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) October 26, 2025
It’s one thing to cover games with MVP candidates and Super Bowl contenders. Elite quarterback play is an instant sell to games like last week’s Kansas City Chiefs–Buffalo Bills matchup. But telling a story of a frustrated team takes a different approach.
“Sometimes, when you get two non-playoff teams that are both struggling, you got to dig a little deeper and find other ways to be informative,” Dedes said.
That beyond-the-game approach is exactly what the crew aims to bring in Week 10 when they cover the Cleveland Browns’ visit to face the Jets at noon at MetLife Stadium. The Jets headlined this week’s trade deadline by shipping away star players Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams for three first-round picks over the next two drafts.
It’s a signal of a rebuild for New York, and the goal for the broadcast trio is to gather as much information as possible to help fans understand it.
“For us, we really hang our hat on being information and educational, while also having some fun,” Kinkhabwala said. “This is sort of a prime game for us to be informational and educational.”
And if it ends up being a one-score game, they’re more than ready.