On Thursday night, NFL officials missed Los Angeles Rams linebacker Byron Young grabbing Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold’s facemask en route to a sack in the end zone and a safety late in the fourth quarter, propelling LA to a 30-20 win.

Now comes word from Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio (after contacting NFL vice president of communications Brian McCarthy via email) making face mask penalties reviewable “likely” will be discussed after the season.

“Yes, it’s likely the face mask will come up in the offseason,” Brian McCarthy told Florio in an email Friday.

Florio asked McCarthy if the league’s competition committee would “review the situation” after the 2024 campaign.

“Instant replay and what plays should and shouldn’t be reviewable is part of the conversation every offseason, and it’s expected to come up again,” McCarthy responded.

“The law can propose a rule change and there have been a variety of proposals in the past about which games or whether all games should be scrutinized.”

Thursday featured a crucial missed call that killed the Vikings’ chance to go the length of the field and tie the game at 28 before regulation ended.

Although the facemask grab occurred during a scoring play, the penalty is not reviewable, and the Rams emerged victorious.

As Florio noted, “this change is really a no brainer,” and “there are no valid arguments against it.”

A hypothetical facemask review last night would have given the Vikings the ball on 1st and 10 at their own 20-yard line, down 28-20 with 1:36 left.

Minnesota still needed to go 80 yards for a touchdown without timeouts (and convert a two-point conversion) to tie, but at least the Vikings would have a chance.

Instead, it was game over for Minnesota as an exciting and competitive game ended in a disappointing blow.

Referee Tra Blake was the closest to the play and was asked about the no-call afterward in one pool reportaccording to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.

“The quarterback was facing the opposite direction from me, so I didn’t have a good look at it,” Blake said.

“I didn’t see, and I didn’t see the face mask pulled, obviously. The ref had players between him and the quarterback, so he didn’t get a look at it. He was blocked, too. So, that’s the thing, we didn’t see it, so we couldn’t call it.”

NFL officials can’t possibly see everything, of course, and human error is part of the game. The easiest way to correct cases like yesterday’s no-call is a facemask review, giving the umpires a much-needed backup.

So it was considered a much-debated talking point in the offseason. For now, however, the Vikings must move forward after the tough loss, dropping them to 5-2.