Mike Zimmer thinks clock malfunction at Soldier Field was horse manure

In the NFL in the year 2014, there shouldn't be a malfunction with the in-stadium clock.

And that is why Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was a little bit upset after Sunday's 21-13 loss to the Bears.

The clock malfunctioned during the game, especially late in the game. That left fans in the stadium wondering how much time was left in the fourth quarter, and the CBS audience saw only "4th" in the area of the screen where the time and quarter usually appears (what did we do before the "Fox Box" debuted in 1994?). It wasn't just the fans who were affected, which drew Zimmer's ire. It was a problem for the Vikings as they tried to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.

Zimmer said the issues were a certain expletive that has to do with horse manure. He's probably right.

“It’s another new experience,” Zimmer said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s hard to know because no one is telling you how much time is left. The clocks here are (expletive). The whole day the whole it’s going out so it’s just another thing. Excuse my language.”

The Vikings apparently had no idea how much time was left on the clock late in the game. Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater threw up a desperate pass to the end zone that was intercepted. Bridgewater told the Pioneer Press' Chris Tomasson that he wasn't fully aware how much time was left on the clock for his last pass. The NFL's official stats showed the confusion in the stadium. The game book showed four straight plays starting at 1:58 remaining in the fourth quarter. it shows that the Bridgewater interception started at 1:58, but the Bears' next play was at 42 seconds.

Again, in the multi-billion dollar NFL in 2014, this is inexcusable.

The Bears passed on commenting on the clock issues, passing the buck to SMG, the company that runs the stadium, according to Chicago Sun-Times' reporter Adam Jahns' Twitter feed. Here's the statement from the stadium folks:

"The Daktronics scoring and timing system experienced several malfunctions today during the game. Daktronics is the leading manufacturer of NFL scoring and timing systems and displays in the NFL. At this point in time, it is undetermined what caused the issues. Daktronics is investigating whether the casue was software or hardware related. Despite a preventative maintenance program with Daktronics that includes having 2 technicians on site for each game, the problem was not able to be corrected during the game."

(Could they have tried to fit in "Daktronics" a couple more times, to make sure who they were passing the blame too?)

All of that is certainly not going to make the Vikings feel better about something that put them at a pretty big disadvantage on the Bears' home turf.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

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