The Vikings pulling off the biggest comeback in NFL history on Saturday never would’ve happened if the officials didn’t blow a play dead and steal a defensive touchdown from Chandon Sullivan.
Down 23-0 in the second quarter, Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman was fighting for extra yardage and fumbled, with the ball bouncing into the hands of Sullivan who sprinted down the sideline for what appeared to be a momentum-changing touchdown. But the refs blew the play dead on forward progress, immediately killing that touchdown.
“They ruled forward progress so there’s nothing I could do about it in that moment,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said on the Vikings Radio Network postgame show. “Just add that to another thing you can list to adversity today that our guys were able to overcome.”
That was the first touchdown stolen from Sullivan.
With 3:23 left in the fourth quarter and the Vikings trailing 36-28, Colts running back Deon Jackson fumbled and Sullivan grabbing the loose ball and cruising into the end zone for a touchdown. But again, the officials had ruled the play dead, again stealing a touchdown from Sullivan.
Make it two TDs the refs robbed out of Chandon Sullivan and the #Vikings in this game. And they badly needed even just one of them.https://t.co/5s9O1PVpbu
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 17, 2022
The Vikings had to challenge the play just to get the football because the officials thought Jackson was down. The replay, however, shows that he was almost fully upright when he dropped the ball.
And then salt in the wound was a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Sullivan after the play. So instead of touchdown, the Vikings were backed up to their own 45-yard line.
“Sully’s one of those guys that just keeps battling,” O’Connell said. “You don’t win a game like this and hold a team to 3 points in the second half without a guy like Sully battling it out.”
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“I’m absolutely exhausted right now. I’m not going to lie to you,” said O’Connell. “Although I felt it and heard some of the rightly-due displeasure with our team in the first half, the moment that we could get some enthusiasm back in this building, no matter how far fetched it seemed we could come back, our fans were right there.”
