The Minnesota Vikings lost for the second time in five days after the team’s no-show on Thursday Night Football. A banged up Carson Wentz got the start but struggled against a strong Los Angeles Chargers defense. Vikings fans hope to forget the 37-10 Week 8 drubbing. And apparently they’re not alone.
The NFL would like viewers to forget a comment that Al Michaels made in the first half of the TNF matchup. The veteran announcer explained that Vikings kicker Will Reichard only had one missed field goal this season. And that miss came on a kick that hit a camera wire when Minnesota played in London.
That statement seems to have struck a nerve at the league office. Because when Reichard lined up for a 32-yard try in the third quarter, Michaels issued a correction of sorts.
“The league wants to take my lunch away because I said before that Reichard’s only miss was hitting a wire in London. The league says, ‘No, no. It was an optical illusion.’ Not what Reichard thinks. Anyway, there you have it. We cleaned it up,” Michaels said, per The 33rd Team’s Ari Meirov.
Al Michaels creates Wiregate with odd correction on Vikings’ FG miss
The kick in question occurred in the fourth quarter of the Vikings' Week 5 matchup with the Cleveland Browns. Reichard had been a perfect 4-4 from 50+ yards at that point. And his 51-yard attempt against the Browns appeared to be on-line until it suddenly veered to the right.
When a ball hits a wire it results in a re-kick. But the refs either missed the interference or didn’t think there was contact. Ultimately, Reichard’s attempt officially was ruled a miss, wide right.
Interestingly, the NFL’s stance immediately after the Vikings’ Week 5 win overseas was that there was no clear view of the ball hitting the wire, per PFF. It seems fairly obvious that the league reached out to Michaels during Week 8’s Thursday Night Football broadcast and asked for a correction. But did officials tell the announcer to refer to the incident as an “optical illusion” or was that a tongue-in-cheek ad-lib from Michaels?
In either case, the controversial kick is no longer the only blemish on Reichard’s record this season. He missed a 53-yard attempt at the end of the first half with Minnesota trailing 21-3. The Vikings fell to 3-4 on the season with the ugly 37-10 loss to the Chargers.
