ClockGate: Le'Veon Bell's Walkoff TD Saves NFL From Controversy (Videos)

Le’Veon Bell’s late touchdown not only saved the Pittsburgh Steelers, it saved the NFL. Kind of.

The Pittsburgh Steelers running back had the weight of his team on his shoulders Monday night, and he promptly danced his way into the end zone for a walkoff touchdown that gave the Steelers a 24-20 win over the San Diego Chargers.

The @Chargers stood him up behind the line.
Game over if @L_Bell26 doesn't keep going.

He kept going. #WalkoffTD http://t.co/01rUflny21

— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2015

But had Bell not scored and time expired, the NFL would’ve had a big problem on its hands.

From ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio:

The kickoff from the Chargers following a 54-yard field goal that put the home team up by three sailed out of the end zone with 2:56 to play. And when the play ended the clock inexplicably started to tick, with a total of 18 seconds bleeding off before stopping at 2:38.

That’s based on the clock shown at the bottom of the ESPN screen. At one point, Steelers quarterback Mike Vick is seen walking onto the field, and the game clock can be seen running in the background from 2:48 all the way to 2:38, at a time when the clock should not have been running.

No one noticed it at the time. Not the officials, not ESPN.

Somehow the NFL — who fought a legal battle over Deflategate because of a need to protect the integrity of the game — is just trying to ignore this.

NFL reportedly is declining comment on the 18-second clock error before the Steelers' final drive. #transparency

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) October 13, 2015