The Minnesota Vikings pulled off a big win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, winning at home by a score of 24-13. Minnesota was simply more prepared for the game, while San Francisco's defense seemed to forget guys like Percy Harvin and Adrian Peterson were even on the Minnesota roster. Perhaps they misread the injury report, or something along those lines.
At any rate, the game was made tougher on the Vikings than it needed to be. According to the Pioneer Press, the replacement officials admitted that they made a mistake in awarding the 49ers an extra timeout. There was one point in which 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh called a timeout and then immediately threw a challenge flag on a Minnesota fumble. It turned out to be in favor of San Francisco, but what was wrong was the fact that the timeout called prior to the challenge was San Francisco's final remaining timeout.
Of course, admitting this won't really change anything, but it is worth noting. There were plenty of egregious calls in that game on both sides of the ball. The 49ers were called on an illegal block in the back on the opening kickoff ... but they were the kicking team. Just put another tick in the "bring back the real referees" column.
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