Kirk Cousins Couldn't Hear Play Call for Game-Ending INT in Vikings' Loss to Chargers

Typically, the crowd noise at U.S. Bank Stadium is a big boost for the Minnesota Vikings during their home games. But during the final play of the Vikings' loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, it turned out to be a hindrance as Kirk Cousins couldn't hear the play call from coach Kevin O'Connell.

Cousins' pass was intended for tight end T.J. Hockenson, but it was tipped and then intercepted by Chargers linebacker Kenneth Murray with seven seconds remaining in the game.

"Just couldn't hear [O'Connell] with the noise," Cousins said postgame. "Just ended up calling a play, and the play I called was the same play he was trying to get to."

It was a crowd of 66,878 fans at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday and while the fans are encouraged to make noise while the opposing team's offense is on the field, it isn't exactly a desirable trait when the Vikings' offense takes the field, particularly in clutch moments.

And unfortunately for Minnesota, Sunday's game was far from the first time that this type of thing has happened, per O'Connell.

"Sometimes that happens," O'Connell said of the home crowd fan noise. "It's not always noticed when we're in a normal two-minute mode."

One of the main reasons the home crowd was making noise was the fact that Cousins and the offense had just converted a clutch fourth down but the clock was running with no timeouts.

Fans could be heard encouraging the Vikings to spike the ball in order to give themselves as many opportunities to score as possible.

O'Connell decided against it and wound up running that final play. The second-year head coach doesn't believe the running clock had any affect on the interception.

"My expectations are always sky-high for our group," O'Connell said, "so I'm trying to steal one more play. But clearly with that much time going off the clock, even though I don't think ultimately think time was the issue with the game ending the way it did, but certainly ... that one was purely on me, trying to be too aggressive in that moment. Definitely looking back on it, just wish I would have clocked it. No matter the benefit we had going fast, the value was not received clearly with what that execution looked like in that moment."

Turnovers have been much more than a trend for the Vikings this season, they lead the NFL in giveaways with nine turnovers, including two more Sunday.

Unfortunately, the biggest one came on the final play of the game.