Fans claim NFL is 'rigged' after bizarre Vikings play against Bears goes viral

NFL fans have astonishingly claimed that the league is 'rigged' - after one play during the Vikings win over the Bears went viral.

Minnesota got off to a winning start to the new NFL season on Monday night, after a late surge during the fourth quarter helped them seal a 27-24 win in Chicago. 

Bears QB Caleb Williams had got off to an electric start - and completed his first 10 passes of the night - before fading as the game went on. After that, he went 11-for-25.

However, one particular Williams play caught attention on social media as fans queried how the quarterback was not tackled despite being seemingly unguarded.

The video captured a moment in the first quarter when the Vikings' outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard broke past the Bears' offensive linemen. 

However, despite being practically face-to-face with Williams, Greenard didn't put a tackle in and, instead, fell backwards to the floor. 

One NFL fan was left baffled by the play and made his feelings known online. 

In a video captioned 'Is the NFL rigged?', the fan said: 'Watch. 58 is going to have him dead to rights and then he's going to f***ing avoid him and fall over'. 

In fairness to the fan, it did appear that way. However, after the clip was posted, a number of other fans were quick to call out the supporter who had made the video. 

One wrote on X: 'He clearly miscalculated the read - thought Williams was stepping up, but he broke it back instead. Classic sign of someone who’s never actually played the game'. 

Similarly, another wrote: 'Watch the QB. It's called a juke. He thought Caleb was going to step up and instead he moved back quickly, and it caused the guy to fall over'. 

In a blunt take, another said: 'Williams broke his ankles. That’s it'. 

Upon closer inspection, it's clear to see that Williams did take a step back which seemingly juked Greenard and caused him to fall over in the middle of the field.

Williams, meanwhile, headed into Monday's game with a huge weight of expectation on his shoulders ahead of the start of his second season with the Bears.

But he made a blistering start at Soldier Field, rounding out his team's first drive with a rushing touchdown to send his home crowd wild.

By the start of the fourth quarter, Williams had thrown for 147 yards as well as his early touchdown, with his team leading the Vikings 17-6.

But from there, it all went wrong very quickly as rival signal caller J.J. McCarthy found his groove on his first NFL game, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for one more.

It meant that the Vikings stormed back to win the game 27-24 against their divisional rivals in a game that got more encouraging for Kevin O'Connell's team as it went on.

The Bears, and Williams, were booed off the field as Johnson's first game ended in a deflating loss.

As for the game, Williams started brilliantly but still ended up on the losing team