Officials give Lions a first down despite ball appearing well short vs. Vikings

The Detroit Lions landed on the good side of a controversial call on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, just one week after losing the game against the Cowboys on a questionable call by the referees. On fourth down and one, running back Jahmyr Gibbs ran for the first down but appeared to be short. After the officials brought out the chains to measure the spot, they ruled it a first down.

Two plays later, the Lions scored on a three-yard run by Gibbs. The score put Detroit up 13-0 before the Vikings drove down the field to put a field goal through the uprights.

I mean it doesn’t matter but they just called this a first down on 4th and the lions scored two plays later.. WTH? pic.twitter.com/ghLP8rbMYc

— “Jack W” (@Jack__W__) January 7, 2024

The Lions could shut down the Vikings’ hopes of making the playoffs with a victory on Sunday. If Minnesota manages to pull out the win, they’ll need the Packers to lose to the Bears, the Seahawks to lose to the Cardinals, and either the Bucs to lose to the Panthers or the Saints to lose to the Falcons.

Lions joke about end to Cowboys game

The Detroit Lions’ social media account turned the team’s misfortune into some quality content on Sunday ahead of the game against the Minnesota Vikings. After the Lions’ game against the Dallas Cowboys ended with a costly penalty against the offense on a two-point try, the team joked on X about the reporting controversy.

The team shared “Reporting for duty” with a video and a tag for Taylor Decker’s account. Alas, it was actually another player reporting “for duty.” Decker tweeted in response, “This is not me.” The Lions account then posted a new video with Dan Skipper arriving at the stadium.

NFL referee Brad Allen said after the Week 17 victory Saturday that it was Lions offensive tackle Dan Skipper — not Taylor Decker — who reported as eligible on the two-point conversion which would have given Detroit the lead with 23 seconds left in the game. Skipper never needed to declare himself as eligible but the team chose to make that move as a bit of trickeration.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell tried to explain on Monday that what the offense was attempting to do was confuse the Cowboys defense into missing that Decker reported. Alas, it backfired.

“It’s about eligibility,” Campbell told reporters on Monday. “That’s what it’s about. And it has nothing to do with the ref. The ref knows. He knows. Because 68 reported. It’s for the defense, so that they see three different people. And you’re just hoping they happen to not hear that it’s 70 [who isn’t eligible]. That’s all.”