On July 23, 2011, Francona got his 1,000th win as a manager, but his team collapsed historically in September, finishing 7–20 and squandering a nine-game lead over the Rays for the AL Wild Card spot. Following the season, the Red Sox declined to exercise Francona's 2012 option. He finished his Red Sox career with a 744–552 record in the regular season—second to Cronin in victories, but tops in winning percentage (.574) among those having managed at least 750 games—and 28–17 (.622) in the postseason with those two World Series championships.
Following his departure from the Red Sox in 2011, Francona was employed by the Fox network as a substitute color analyst for the first two games of the American League Championship Series. Francona, who teamed with play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, filled in for regular Fox analyst Tim McCarver, who was recuperating from minor heart surgery. On December 5, 2011, Francona signed with ESPN joining their Sunday Night Baseball telecast, replacing Bobby Valentine, who himself replaced Francona as manager of the Red Sox. During the 2012 season, he worked as an analyst on Sunday Night Baseball, contributed to ESPN.com, and contributed to ESPN's Little League World Series coverage. Francona dearly thanked ESPN as he left for the job as Cleveland Indians manager.