Watch the BS Roughing Call On Harrison Smith That Nearly Killed the Vikings (GIF)

The Vikings have been on the wrong end of a couple questionable roughing calls this year.

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The one Captain Munnerlyn got flagged for in the New Orleans game arguably went a long way toward preventing the Vikings from coming back to win.

The one against Harrison Smith yesterday was even more egregious and had the potential to lose the game for the Vikings.

The Vikes were up 14-10 when Robert Griffin III took off to try and convert a third down in Vikings territory. Rather than risk his body, Griffin decided to slide and live to fight another day.

Though Griffin came up short of the first down marker, the Redskins still would have had an easy field goal to pull within one. So it was probably a good decision by RG3 even though he failed to get the first.

Unfortunately, the refs ended up handing Washington the first down anyway when they called Harrison Smith for unnecessary roughness. Even though Smith barely brushed RG3 on his way by.

Apparently, the refs expected Smith to sprout wings at the last split-second and avoid all contact with a late-sliding Griffin.

It was a seriously terrible call. Washington capitalized by scoring a TD to take the lead.

The Vikings would ultimately fight back to win the game, so the terrible call was rendered moot. But that didn’t mean Harrison Smith wasn’t upset about it after the game (via 1500ESPN).

"“I didn’t do anything wrong. So I didn’t worry about it,” Smith said after the game. “It’s 3rd-and-1, I’m not giving up 3rd-and-1. If they call it, they call it. I’m not even going to touch on it. You know how I feel about it.”"

He added:

"“I knew I didn’t want to hit him, but at the same time, I’m not going to stand there and let him get the first down,” Smith said. “I thought I did what I should’ve done.”"

Smith knows he played that right, Mike Zimmer knows Smith played that right and anyone who knows officiating knows the refs got it wrong.

The Vikings are just glad that play didn’t cost them the game. Because that would’ve truly been soul-crushing.