Furious Vikings fans claim Rams game was rigged after referee misses blatant call

The Minnesota Vikings fell to a 30-20 defeat against the Los Angeles Rams as fans were left in disbelief over a missed face mask call, leading them to claim the NFL is "so rigged"

Furious Minnesota Vikings fans claimed their controversial defeat to the Los Angeles Rams was “so rigged” after the referee missed an obvious face mask call late on.

The two teams, who both have their eyes on reaching the playoffs, faced off in a tense Thursday Night Football encounter. The Vikings had travelled to the SoFi Stadium in the hope that they could retake their lead atop the division.

Kevin O'Connell’s side fought hard but suffered a defeat by 30-20, with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Damarcus Robinson proving decisive with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. And controversy struck with less than two minutes left on the clock.

Backed up at their five-yard line while trailing 28-20, Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold tried to find an open receiver on second and 10. He was brought down in the end zone for a sack and a safety by Byron Young, handing the Rams a ten-point buffer with only 1:46 to play. However, replays quickly showed that the linebacker had illegally grabbed Darnold's face mask before throwing him to the ground.

What should have been a 15-yard penalty and automatic first down was somehow avoided, with the referees failing to throw a flag. The incident was made even more bizarre by a camera angle showing that an official appeared to have a clear view of Young's blatant violation.

The response by fans on social media, as expected, was a furious one, with many calling on the NFL to take swift action. One X user raged: "The refs were right there!! This is so rigged," while another vented: "Pathetic. Thought ALL SCORING PLAYS ARE REVIEWED?” Others fumed: "Fire those refs. They were horrible," and: "Most obvious call I've ever seen."

According to NFL officiating fundamentals, the referee has primary responsibility for fouls involving hits on the quarterback. The play is not reviewable according to NFL rules, which led another fan to say: "I can't believe this sort of thing isn't reviewable by now."

Referee Tra Blake claimed in an interview after the match that none of the officials had a clear view of the play. He admitted: "The quarterback was facing the opposite direction from me, so I did not have a good look at it. I did not have a look, and I did not see the face mask being pulled, obviously."

Umpire Carl Paganelli was also unable to assist as he too had his view obstructed, with Blake saying: "The umpire had players between him and the quarterback, so he did not get a good look at it. He was blocked out as well. So that was the thing. We did not see it, so we couldn't call it."

Vikings coach O'Connell took a different stance to fans online, saying the missed call was not to be used as an excuse for his team's performance. He said: "It looked like he got a pretty good amount of face mask there.

"I'm not going to get into the call, or no-call, or all that stuff. I talked to our team, officiating and all that stuff... for us to talk about that, for us to seek comfort in that, is not how we're going to respond to this. It's just not going to happen. I'm going to do the same thing right now. I really don't have a comment on that. Looked like he got a piece of the face mask, but they didn't think so, so they didn't throw the flag."

Darnold added: "The face mask, it is what it is. 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."

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