As the Vikings were in the middle of staging the largest comeback in NFL history on Saturday afternoon, the home team was the recipient of what appeared to be a bad call that took a pivotal touchdown off the board.
In the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game, Colts running back Deon Jackson fumbled at the Indianapolis 39. Vikings defensive back Chandon Sullivan recovered the fumble and returned it for a touchdown, but the touchdown didn’t count as officials ruled that Jackson was down by contact.
The officials reviewed the play and ultimately awarded the ball to the Vikings, but the call on the field took a touchdown off the board that would have made the score 36–34, pending a two-point conversion to tie the game.
Ultimately the Vikings scored a couple of possessions later, sent the game to overtime and completed the comeback victory with a 40-yard Greg Joseph field goal with less than a minute to play in the extra period.
NFL senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson explained the ruling on the field after the game.
“The original ruling on the field was that the runner that was in the pile was down by contact,” Anderson told pool reporter Chip Scoggins. “Subsequently, a Minnesota player got it back. We had a look and could tell right away that the runner was still up when the ball came loose. We had a good view that it was a clear recovery by Minnesota No. 39. But the ruling on the field was the runner was down by contact.
“There was a subsequent loose ball and then a recovery by Minnesota and an advance. Minnesota challenged that and by the time they challenged, we had good views. We had an expedited review to announce that it was a fumble, and we had a clear recovery. But all we could do was give Minnesota the ball at the spot of the recovery.”
Anderson later noted that while it’s technically a dead ball when the officials rule that a runner is down by contact, you can award the opposing team the ball with a clear recovery, but with no advancement.
All’s well that ends well as the Vikings clinched the NFC North with the improbable win.
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