How an officiating blunder put Vikings kicker Will Reichard in Soldier Field’s record book

Will Reichard’s name wouldn’t be in Soldier Field’s 101-year-old record book if it weren’t for a blunder by the game officials in the closing seconds of the first half of Monday night’s 27-24 win over the Bears.

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell had called his last timeout of the half and sent his second-year kicker onto the field to attempt what the Vikings thought would be a 53- or 54-yarder based on the officials spotting the ball close to the 36-yard line.

Reichard’s maximum range going into the wind in that direction, per his pregame warmup with special teams coordinator Matt Daniels, had been set at 57 yards.

Confusion ensued during the break between plays as officials grappled with on-field tasks — like accurately spotting the football — and a halftime show that was champing at the bit to rush onto the field to set up.

“I didn’t see the halftime show,” O’Connell said, “but they were getting ready to bring everything out. They want us to get off the field in a timely manner. There’s a lot to get to from an entertainment and production standpoint.”

If you’re assuming KO was being sarcastic, you’re probably right.

Meanwhile, the final first-half seconds of a one-score prime-time NFL game needed to be played first.

The officials realized they had made a mistake and quickly respotted the ball at the 41-yard line.

“Actually,” Reichard said, “they respotted it twice. I didn’t know what was happening.”

The final spot meant it would take a 59-yarder into the wind at Soldier Field.

“Do we hockey line-change and get the offense back on and risk a procedure penalty?” O’Connell said of his rushed thought process at the time.

O’Connell shot a quick look at Daniels, whom everyone calls “Hat.”

Funny. That’s the same look Reichard had on the field as he looked toward the sideline.

“We practice for a lot of situations,” Reichard said. “And this wasn’t a regular situation.”

Reichard’s career long was 58 yards.

And …

Soldier Field opened Oct. 9, 1924. The Chicago Cardinals played some games there. The Bears moved there from Wrigley Field in 1971. And the only player in all that time to ever make a field goal longer than 58 yards was Matt Prater when he nailed a 59-yarder for the Lions in January 2016.

Why?

Because the 57-yarder Reichard hit in that direction in pregame had “extra room on it,” Daniels said.

Fingers and toes crossed, O’Connell kept Reichard on the field and, boom, he made it comfortably.

“The mental aspect that goes into that as a kicker — ‘I’m already against the wind. It’s a 53- , 54-yarder and now you’re looking at the ball being backed up,’ ” Daniels said. “For Will to go out and execute in that situation says a lot about who he is as a kicker.”

Reichard must have flushed the kick, eh?

Confidence in a kicker is an underrated feeling. Until it’s gone.

Ask the 49ers, who just released Jake Moody after he missed a short field goal and had another one blocked in Week 1.

Ask the Browns, who might have to follow suit with rookie Andre Szmyt, who missed a PAT and a 36-yard game-winning try late in a one-point loss to Cincinnati.

And ask Sunday’s Vikings opponent, the Falcons, whose formerly reliable kicker, Younghoe Koo, struggled last year and then opened this season by missing badly from 44 yards in the closing seconds of last week’s 23-20 loss to Tampa Bay.

Then there’s Kevin O’Connell, 1-0 and seemingly as much a kicker whisperer as he is the highly publicized quarterback whisperer that made him last year’s NFL Coach of the Year.