O'Donnell: Tafoya returns as the reliable backbeat among 'Sunday Night Football' Fab Four

WHEN SHE WANTS TO BE, Michele Tafoya is Ringo Starr.

Steady and star-worthy.

A critical part of an extremely successful slice of show biz.

Back-beating and restrained until summoned to the spotlight.

All of which Tafoya will be Thursday night when "Sunday Night Football" - American TV's most highly-rated program for the past eight years - tees it up yet again as the Bears open the NFL's 100th season vs. visiting Green Bay (NBC-5, 7 p.m.).

She plays behind stars Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels along with thoroughly modern executive producer Fred Gaudelli.

But there is no mistaking the resilient reporter for any sort of "quiet one."

"As a reporter, you don't get to offer many opinions on air," said Tafoya, who made her first major network appearance 25 years this week during CBS's coverage of men's champ Andre Agassi and the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows.

"And I am a very opinionated person.

"I have a lot to say about a lot of things, which I get to do during my morning radio gig in the Twin Cities (on KQRS-FM)."

But during "SNF" gamecasts, she is restrained and ready - almost like a place-kicker.

"Kickers get a raw deal," she told The Daily Herald. "It's tough.

"Their mistakes are magnified. I can relate to them.

"Like a sideline reporter, kickers only get a few chances to be relevant in the game. And you want to make those opportunities count.

"And when you flub it … everyone notices."

Tafoya has seldom been known for flubs.

During her quarter century in the TV sports bigs, she's touched just about all the majors, from CBS (1994-99) to ABC/ESPN (2000-2011) to NBC (2011 to now).

With an MBA from USC following a mass comm degree at Cal, Tafoya first linked with Michaels on "Monday Night Football" 13 years ago.

Their on-air fluidity was quick, appeared easy and has never ebbed.

Nor has their pregame prep, which will begin Tuesday evening, 48 hours in advance of the Bears-Packers kickoff, at a tony downtown restaurant.

"We'll have dinner as a group," Tafoya said. "Then Wednesday will be 'school night' for me, as Al dubs it, when I stay in and finish all of my prep for Thursday's game."

Essential to Tafoya's business trip will be two things: a daily workout - ideally a long 90 minutes on a Peloton - and a Thursday session with makeup artist Audrey Mansfield.

"Game day will be long with meetings in the morning, then my workout and then hair and makeup. Audrey is a savior for me. We are close friends and she takes a lot of stress off me."

And then it will be on to Soldier Field, where Tafoya and mates were winnowers to the world for Cody Parkey's rough double-doinker against Philadelphia last January.

"People think kickers can win or lose games. To an extent that's true. But you can usually find a key turnover or blown coverage or a missed tackle that could similarly have changed a game.

"I do know this," she adds: "On opening night, the Bears kicker will be under a microscope like never before. God bless him, or her in case it's Carli Lloyd."

Tafoya responded with assertiveness when asked about Lesley Visser's recent comment that sideline reporting has, "Kind of become a metaphor for 'female dumping ground.' "

"With all my years of experience, I often feel underutilized in my profession. But this is the job I signed up for. I know all the work that comes with it.

"Do I think I could call play-by-play or fill the analysis role?

"Sure. But never, ever as well as my partners Al and Cris. Not even close. They are masters of their crafts.

"And," she said, "There is no other team I'd rather be with, so I have no ambitions to go in another direction."

Even in the Labor Day week of her career, Tafoya cites her bustling Minnesota home front - with son Tyler (13) and daughter Olivia (10) - as top priority.

"I have thoughts and plans and ambitions and a family that I adore. Everything has to fit together and be timed accordingly. My main goal is to raise two happy, healthy, productive people.

"For now, that's 'What's next.' "

That and keeping the backbeat going while waiting to be summoned to her spotlights during the Bears-Packers "SNF" telecast.

STREET-BEATIN': Strange swirl around WGN-AM (720) about the structure of the station's efforts to try and compete as a source of Bears information and analysis this season. Todd Manley's Alamo minions are wedged into a very difficult spot between Entercom's brawny WBBM-AM (780) and WSCR-AM (670). … Speaking of "The Score," charming chunk recently by legacied scratch-and-sniffer Dan McNeil and his band of banshees about guttural variants of the name "Richard." Who'd want to be an advertiser trying to move $45,000 vehicles around that sort of sonic swill? … Marvelous that local and regional pols are expressing distress at the possible shutdown of Arlington Park. But who among them has actually read the entire 816-page enabling legislation enacted in June and who among them will actually summon the energy and focus to try and outgame the imposing Bill Carstanjen-Neil Bluhm steamroller? … While the state of Illinois fiddles, Indiana will become the 14th state to go live with sports gaming Wednesday when Horseshoe Casino in Hammond opens its first sports book. (Initial action may include an over/under date on when the neighboring Land of Winkin' finally gets its legalized sports Drano going.) … Pat Pot Pioneer: The Boston Globe reports that Rob Gronkowski is partnering in a company that makes the cannabis compound CBD "to help athletes and others deal with pain." (Leaving behind, "Oh man, it was only an ambulance.") … And former NIU linebacker Mike Miller, on those unwieldy Democratic presidential "debates," deadpanned: "Cut 'em to nine and play it 'Hollywood Squares" style." Cory Booker to block, please.

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.