Like a scientific laboratory, spring leagues have served as testing gridirons for experimental rules. For example, the USFL and XFL – which merged to become the UFL – have used a form of the NFL’s new dynamic kickoff. The UFL has another rule applicable to the missed facemask at end of the Rams’ 30-20 win over the Vikings.
It’s called a super challenge, allowing a coach to ask for a review of any officiating decision as long as his team has at least one timeout remaining. And even before the Vikings’ loss on Thursday, FOX analyst and former quarterback Joel Klatt called for college football to adopt the UFL rule with regard to the corrected pass-interference in last week’s Georgia-Texas game.
“You guys know I call UFL games in the spring,” Klatt said. “The fix is in the UFL. The UFL has a super challenge. Every coach has one super challenge. Any call, any time, they throw a challenge. ‘Hey, I thought it was offside.’ Challenge. ‘Hey, I thought that was a poor pass interference,’ Challenge.
“And now what you’re doing is that you’re creating a system that officials can get back together, they can review it and they can all chime in rather than just one guy in the heat of the moment throwing his flag and everybody can be like, ‘Hey, you know what? I think that call should be reversed.’ And then everybody knows that that’s just the process of the super challenge.”
But here’s the problem with regard to applying a hypothetical super challenge to Thursday night’s NFL game. Not only did Minnesota need to go 95 yards in the final 1:46, score a touchdown and convert a two-point play just to tie the Rams – the Vikings trailed 28-20 – they also had no timeouts.
No amount of blaming the officials for an obvious missed call would’ve greatly increased the Vikings’ chances of winning. This was more of a Rams win than a Vikings loss. On the safety in which Byron Young sacked Sam Darnold, credit the stunt blitz called by defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Young’s swim move that collapsed the pocket, and the coverage by the Rams’ secondary. After the game, Darnold said the Vikings were as much to blame as the officials.
“The facemask, it is what it is,” said the quarterback, who was 18 of 25 for 240 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. “I thought we could have done a lot to not put ourselves in the situation that we were in. … So we’ve just got to continue to play better and not put ourself in that position to begin with.”
The reason Minnesota had no timeouts was a curious game-management decision on the prior possession. The Vikings burned their second timeout after Andrew Van Ginkel and Ivan Pace had dropped Kyren Williams for a 1-yard loss, setting up a third-and-9 from the Rams’ 20-yard line with 3:26 left in the game. The next snap – Matthew Stafford’s 27-yard completion to Cooper Kupp, forcing Minnesota to take its final timeout — was probably more significant than the missed facemask on the safety.
But all of that is hypothetical. What’s real is the Vikings are 5-2, the latest kneecap-bitten victim of the Lions. The NFC North is far from settled and Minnesota has nine days to rest and regroup before getting the Colts (4-3) at U.S. Bank Stadium. And, Kevin O’Connell gets to add another asset to his offense with the return of tight end T.J. Hockenson.
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