The Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings duked it on Monday Night Football to close out the Week 9 slate, but fans had a couple of issues with one man calling the game.

A first-quarter Carson Wentz turnover sent Troy Aikman and Joe Buck into a discussion about whether the ball went forward, and viewers were quick to give the booth a ruling of their own.

Carson Wentz Replay Draws Criticism of Troy Aikman and Joe Buck

Wentz was starting for Minnesota in place of Kyler Murray, who was out with a hamstring strain. With 5:30 left in a scoreless first quarter, Wentz sent the ball to his right, with Justin Jefferson the intended receiver. Officials initially ruled it an incomplete pass. Buffalo challenged the direction of the throw and won. The play went down as a Wentz fumble, with Greg Rousseau recovering at the Minnesota 44.

An incomplete forward pass is dead when it hits the turf. A backward pass that hits the ground stays live, and either team can recover it. That distinction gave Buffalo the ball in Minnesota territory one snap after Byron Murphy Jr. had intercepted Josh Allen in the end zone.

Tyler Bass kicked a 39-yard field goal on the ensuing drive for the first points of the night.

One fan’s gripe was with how ESPN got viewers from one ruling to the other. He said Buck and Aikman were “utterly befuddled” by the play before the broadcast went to commercial. By the time it came back, he said, the crew needed a rules expert to explain it. “A perfect microcosm of what NFL broadcasts have become,”Kelly wrote.

Another viewer boiled down the discussion to “The pass goes backwards when it doesn’t go forward.” The way that fan heard it, the booth had spent its time restating the question. “They get paid real US currency to talk ball,”the viewer added.

Fans Question Aikman’s Form as His ESPN Contract Winds Down

Steven C. Svekis brought up the criticism Tony Romo took in 2024 and 2025 before saying Aikman had “really fallen off a cliff, too,”in a post on X.

“Um, Troy is obviously going through some things,”Bad Fox Graphics posted. “Guy is definitely checked out,” another viewer wrote, speculating that Aikman’s contract situation was affecting what they heard on air.

Buck reportedly has a six-year extension, while The Athletic has reported that ESPN considers Aikman’s talks paused. Aikman’s current deal runs through Super Bowl LXI.

Fox analyst Greg Olsen hasemerged as a reported favorite if ESPN makes a change in the MNF booth, since the network has yet to announce who will sit alongside Buck next season.

ESPN still has Buck and Aikman scheduled to call its first Super Bowl on Feb. 14. It’ll be their seventh together, a partnership that dates back to their Fox days in 2002. The contract story will follow them to that game.