Top Vikings defender helped make strange Chase Claypool situation worse

Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks made a savvy veteran move during the strange situation on Thursday involving Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Chase Claypool.

After his team fell to the Minnesota Vikings this past Thursday night, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool found himself at the center of a bunch of controversy.

With the Vikings leading by eight points, the Steelers had one last chance to try and tie up the game during the final few minutes of the fourth quarter.

With less than a minute remaining, Pittsburgh was faced a 4th-and-1 from the Minnesota 43-yard line. A nine-yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Claypool resulted in a Pittsburgh first down, but without any timeouts left, the Steelers had to quickly get to the line of scrimmage to spike the ball and stop the clock.

Instead of immediately trying to give the ball to an official after his catch, however, Claypool decided it was the perfect time to celebrate getting a first down. After his celebration, the ball ended up getting bobbled around and Pittsburgh lost some valuable seconds off of the clock that could have given them another chance to tie the score.

Minnesota Vikings LB Eric Kendricks helps Chase Claypool waste time for Pittsburgh Steelers

We mentioned that the ball was bobbled before it ended up in the hands of an official after Claypool’s first-down celebration. Well, it seems like that bobbling was aided by a small nudge from Vikings All-Pro linebacker Eric Kendricks.

If not for Kendricks “accidentally” running into Pittsburgh offensive lineman Trai Turner, the Steelers might have been able to spike the ball quicker and save some time on the clock.

Of course, Pittsburgh would have also been able to save some additional time had Claypool not decided to celebrate a first down when his team had zero timeouts left.

But don’t tell that to the Steelers receiver, he didn’t think his unnecessary celebration made much of an impact.