The Minnesota Vikings had a huge opportunity to come all the way back and steal a win in the first leg of their Great Britain doubleheader, but then disaster struck.
The Vikings’ final drive was done in by penalties, especially a delay-of-game call that went against them on 4th-and-12, and coach Kevin O’Connell explained why he was upset with that foul specifically after their 24-21 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland.
Minnesota (2-2) trailed 24-6 with just 11:18 to play but had the ball down three with the chance to tie the game — or take the lead. The Vikings will head south to London for a date against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at T0ttenham Hotspur Stadium.
Minnesota lost a chance to pull ahead of the Green Bay Packers and into a tie for first with the Detroit Lions atop the NFC North standings — since Green Bay tied the Dallas Cowboys 40-40 on Sunday night.
Kevin O’Connell Blames Play Clock Issue For Delay of Game
The Vikings had gone 70 yards then 99 yards on their previous drives to cut the Steelers’ lead to three when Minnesota got the ball back at its own 20-yard line with 62 seconds left.
Minnesota quarterback Carson Wentz nearly threw a game-sealing interception, before it was overturned. He and the Vikings moved the ball with a pair of first downs before his crucial intentional grounding call set them back to their own 23-yard line.
With no timeouts, and coming off a Wentz clock-spike, the Vikings were looking at fourth-and-12 from their own 37 before the Vikings inexplicably took a delay of game that made it fourth-and-17 and doomed any chance of a game-winning drive.
“It was the unique thing about coming to play here, and then you find out about three minutes before kickoff that that end zone’s game clock and play clock would be turned off for the day,” O’Connell said. “Normally, that clock right in front of the quarterback is kind of registering ‘I’ve got to get going,’ and it was precious time lost in a sequence where we’re trying to get as detailed of a play off as we possibly can to account for the things.
“That was a critical penalty.”
Wentz, who is in his 10th NFL season, admitted he struggled with the play clock throughout the fourth quarter.
“It was weird. Looking behind me, off to my shoulder on the side,” Wentz said. “Obviously it got us at a very bad time of the game.
“That’s on me, I’ve got to be quicker in and out.”
O’Connell: Vikings Had ‘An Opportunity’ On Intentional Grounding Call
Wentz was pressured into the intentional grounding call that set Minnesota back, since Steelers linebacker Nick Herbig nearly sacked him and forced him to the 16-yard foul and 10-second run off.
Yet, according to O’Connell, the Vikings had a chance to hit a huge play if their line could have accounted for Herbig. Tight end T.J. Hockenson chipped Herbig then released into a pattern, which O’Connell alluded he was not supposed to do.
“We might’ve got beat by a TE on the intentional grounding,” O’Connell said. “We had an opportunity maybe to get a pretty significant chunk, which you’re looking for at least one or two times to try and get in field-goal range.”