Vikings Get Screwed on Big Play in London
After a Week 5 contest in England, the Minnesota Vikings kept pace with their NFC North counterparts, defeating the Cleveland Browns by a score of 21-17. But the win didn’t arrive without controversy, as a field goal from kicker Will Reichard appeared to strike a camera wire, which was totally ignored by the officials and the league’s replay system.
Although the Minnesota Vikings left England with a win, one transaction on the field bent the wrong way, and it appears the purple team got hosed.
Thankfully, the incident did not affect the game’s outcome, so not much will come from the mini-fiasco. Still, the visual evidence shows that Reichard’s kick hit something and weirdly veered off course, with all signs pointing to the camera wire.
Camera Wires, the Vikings, & London
It’s another strange event in the Vikings’ kicking saga.
A “Camera Wire” Entered the Vikings’ Discourse in London
With about 10 minutes left in the 4th Quarter, while his team trailed by three points, Reichard attempted a 51-yard field goal — almost a chip shot for him — and utterly missed the kick.
NFL writer Matt Clapp noted, “Astute viewers of Sunday’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns in London noticed that a missed field goal from Vikings kicker Will Reichard appeared to hit a camera wire.”
“With the Vikings trailing 17-14 in the fourth quarter, Reichard attempted a 51-yard field goal that missed wide right. The kick had a bizarre slice, and social media users have posted video clips that seem to show the football hitting a camera wire at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, causing the ball to change direction.”
At the time, fans merely assumed that Reichard totally bungled the kick and that a strange wind gust must have changed the course of the field goal.
The Visual Evidence
Regarding CameraWireGate, one item is certain: something made the ball change course.
Here’s the footage:
Some also slowed the video down to Zapruder style:
The ball took an unnatural trajectory, leaving the camera wire as the only logical explanation.
If Not an Obstruction like a Camera Wire, Then What Was It?
Assume, for a moment, that the wire theory is wrong. If that’s the case, Reichard’s field goal careened off course with an act of voodoo, divine intervention, or wind that nobody felt inside the stadium except the football.
The aforementioned Clapp added, “The interference was not seen by officials and was not brought up on the NFL Network broadcast, resulting in a missed field goal for Reichard and the Vikings at a crucial point of the game. Had officials been aware of the ball hitting the wire, Reichard would’ve had an opportunity to redo the kick and potentially tie the game.”
The rule, if enforced, would’ve granted Reichard a “do-over.” It’s just that the referees didn’t notice it, nor did the NFL’s Replay Assist bother to intervene.
Water under the Bridge
Thankfully — for everyone’s sake, sans the Browns and their fans — the controversy didn’t matter. Minnesota downed Cleveland by four, and CameraWireGate did not affect the game’s outcome. Had Minnesota lost, the situation would’ve dominated the bye week discourse, probably resulting in the franchise appealing to the league, which wouldn’t have done much of anything.
Reichard was the only party affected, as the history books will show that he missed a 51-yard field goal, with no asterisk to indicate a rogue camera wire.
More CameraWireGate Takes
Pro Football Talk‘s Mike Florio on Reichard’s suspicious miss: “The 51-yard field goal attempt by Vikings kicker Will Reichard went wide right. Videos of the kick seem to indicate that the kick struck a camera cable. The ball moves, and the camera wobbles. If noticed — and if the rule had been correctly applied — Reichard would have gotten another opportunity to convert.”
“If the Vikings had lost the game, it would be a much bigger issue. It should still be a thing. The cable shouldn’t have been in the way, and it should have been noticed, by the officials or replay review of the Vikings, that it did. And that’s twice today that overhead interference was not properly handled, by anyone.”
Star Tribune‘s Michael Rand: “The ball took flight and seemed to be on a decent trajectory. And then it veered dramatically to the right and went way wide of the upright. On the live broadcast, it merely looked like a mis-hit and/or a ball that got caught in the wind.”
“But upon further review, it sure looks like it hit a wire — specifically a camera cable — that caused it to change directions so dramatically. Nobody on the field seemed to complain about it and it didn’t raise any eyebrows on the initial broadcast. It wasn’t addressed postgame by the Vikings. But I just can’t ignore the seeming evidence of what I saw. The ball went a weird direction right when it crossed the path of the wire.”
At the time of this article’s publication, the NFL had not acknowledged the gaffe.
The miss will go down as Reichard’s first of 2025.
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