For parts of Sunday’s Vikings-Bears contest in Chicago, the game clock reportedly wasn’t functioning properly, including during Minnesota’s final drive.
Afterwards, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer offered the following four-word performance evaluation of the timing situation.
“Clocks here are (expletive),” Zimmer said after Minnesota’s 21-13 loss.
According to Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune, the game clock stopped working with 2:54 left in regulation, just before the Vikings started their final offensive possession. Minnesota would drive to the Chicago 29 before quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was intercepted in the end zone with less than a minute left, ending the Vikings’ hopes.
With the game clock not working, officials kept time on the field.
“It’s hard [for Bridgewater] because no one is able to tell you how much time is left. . . . The whole day the whole thing was going out, so it was just another thing,” Zimmer said, according to Master Tesfatsion of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Excuse my language.”
According to the Tribune, Soldier Field G.M. Tim LeFevour indicated the cause of the timing issues was unclear.
“We had two technicians here like we do for every game and they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. We believe it could have been a software issue but they’re not sure yet,” LeFevour said, per the Tribune.
The Bears’ next home game is Sunday vs. Tampa Bay.