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Troy Aikman, Russell Yurk call out officials over controversial PI on Vikings TD drive

Chandler Vesselsby: Chandler Vessels09/09/25ChandlerVessels
troy aikman (1)
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Troy Aikman called out NFL officials for a pass interference flag thrown on a critical drive in Monday night’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears. With 9:57 to go in the fourth quarter, the Vikings trailed 17-12 and had the ball when JJ McCarthy threw a pass in the direction of Jalen Nailor.

Nailor slipped and fell to the ground as the pass fell incomplete. However, officials threw a flag and called a 14-yard penalty on Chicago.

Aikman voiced his disagreement with the call on the ESPN broadcast. Rules analyst Russell Yurk backed him up.

“I agree with you, Troy,” Yurk said. “It looks like he more slipped than anything. You see he touches him and there was some slight contact, but I don’t think that’s significant hindrance of his ability to catch the pass. I wish they had gotten together on that one and picked it up.”

The penalty ended up being costly, as McCarthy found Aaron Jones for a 27-yard touchdown pass on the very next play. Minnesota made the two-point conversion to take a 20-17 lead, its first all night long.

“You just see him go to the ground and you assume he got tugged,” Troy Aikman continued on the pass interference call. “Tyrique Stevenson, he is expecting the ball. When they’re bringing an all out blitz, they’re expecting the ball to come out quick than what it did.”

That woudn’t be the end as the Vikings got a stop of defense and then scored on the very next drive to go up 27-17. Chicago answered to make it 27-24, but that was as close as it got as the Vikings escaped with the win.

The pass interference call will loom large for Bears fans, but it wasn’t just that that led to the team’s collapse. In the end, Chicago has a lot to be disappointed in after it looked at one point to have the game in hand.

Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy finished 13-of-20 passing for 143 yards and three total touchdowns in the win. That included the final two scores of the game that helped Minnesota take the lead for good.

The Vikings have to feel good about his performance down the stretch after a lackluster first half. They move on to face the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2 as McCarthy will aim to carry over his impressive play.