There wasn't much drama during the Chargers' 37-10 blowout victory over the Vikings on Thursday Night Football but Al Michaels did provide some entertainment by dropping and then re-visiting an anecdote about Minnesota kicker Will Reichard.

As Reichard lined up for a field goal attempt in the second quarter, Michaels said that the kicker's only previous miss on the year was when one of his boots hit a television wire against the Browns in a London game.

It was the type of contextual note that most viewers forgot by the time a commercial break came and went. But Michaels felt compelled to revisit it later during Reichard's next involvement.

"The league wants to take my lunch away because I said before that Reichard's only miss was hitting a wire in London," Michaels said. "The league says, 'No, no, it was an optical illusion.'"

"That’s not what Reichard thinks," Michaels added. "Anyway, there you have it. We cleaned it up. I'm always cleaning up our mess. My mess."

The wire in question did or did not affect what would have been a game-tying field goal in a game the Vikings would go on to win anyway. At the time, the NFL said there was no clear view to determine that the ball's flight had been impacted. Which is not the same thing as saying something was "an optical illusion" so Michaels' attempted clarification may have actually made things more confusing.

Whatever behind-the-scenes machinations took place before Michaels offered an explanation for something he clearly didn't want to explain, the end result is more people looking into whether a ball hit a wire or not than ever would have cared without the second mention.

Again, the Vikings won the game in question. Weeks ago. It didn't matter. But apparently it does.


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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Al Michaels Offers Strange Correction After Saying NFL 'Wants to Take My Lunch Away'.