The Minnesota Vikings dropped their third straight one-possession game to start the season on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, bringing them to 0-3.
The Vikings had a chance to win the game in the final minute after converting a fourth down inside the Chargers' 10-yard line with 35 seconds left. With no timeouts, Minnesota decided to get to the line and try to catch LA napping by running another play rather than simply spiking the ball to stop the clock.
There was one problem though: Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins couldn’t hear the play coming in from head coach Kevin O'Connell because the Minnesota crowd was too loud.
“Just couldn't hear him with the noise,” Cousins said, via Kevi Seifert. “Just ended up calling a play, and the play I called was the same play he was trying to get to.”
The ensuing play resulted in a game-sealing interception for the Chargers, sending the Vikings further down the NFC standings. O'Connell acknowledged that the crowd noise does play a factor in their communication sometimes.
In hindsight, it was smarter for the Vikings to stop the clock which would have essentially given them three shots at the endzone for a game-winning touchdown. O'Connell said it would have been the better option postgame.
The Vikings won 13 games last season only to lose in the wild card round to the New York Giants. They have one less loss this year through Week 3 than they did all of last season. Another winnable game slipped through Minnesota's fingers and it now faces a treacherous path to the playoffs.