Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson wearing a hoodie sweatshirt and sunglasses before a preseason game in 2026 against the Denver Broncos in which he did not play
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
It was another wild day of NFL football on Sunday, and out of all that chaos, the Minnesota Vikings have risen to the top of the NFC, at 4-0, following yet another confusing victory, this time at home, over the Miami Dolphins.
If you watched only the first half of the Vikings’ latest win, you walked away feeling sick to your stomach, thanks to yet another anemic offensive performance. In fact, throughout yesterday’s game, you could hear more fans booing at U.S. Bank Stadium — even though the home team led from start to finish — than fans cheering.
Thankfully, this isn’t college football. In the NFL, wins are counted the same, no matter how ugly they are. And when the dust settled yesterday in Minneapolis, the scoreboard showed Vikings 15, Dolphins 10.
Did you see what happened between Eric Wilson and the head ref?
Now, we’ll spend all week talking about what the future holds for this undefeated 2026 Minnesota Vikings squad. But first, let’s rewind back to the first quarter so we can review a “collision” between Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson and Sunday’s head referee at U.S. Bank Stadium, Adrian Hill, that has since garnered national attention.
With about 5:30 remaining in yesterday’s opening quarter, after a dead-ball neutral zone flag on Dallas Turner, Dolphins running back Ollie Gordon kept blocking and shoved Wilson into Hill, who, upon contact, crumpled to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
When Wilson went to help the referee up, Hill refused his peace offering, jumped to his feet and started screaming at the MN Vikings middle linebacker as if he had shoved him over on purpose.
Wilson with the unintentional collision 📺: FOX/FOX One https://t.co/4HjG8bRF42
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 4, 2026
It didn’t take long for the above exchange to go viral across social media. One thing is pretty obvious to the naked eye. Eric Wilson clearly did not run over Adrian Hill on purpose.
NFL investigating heated moment between Vikings LB and head ref Adrian Hill
So why is the NFL investigating yesterday’s interaction between Wilson and Hill? Well, we do not know for sure. But that’s what Adam Schefter is reporting — that the league is “reviewing” yesterday’s incident.
The NFL also said it is reviewing this play, at least the second today involving an interaction between a player and an official.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 5, 2026
Shortly after Schefter tweeted out his report above, his colleague at ESPN Kevin Seifert wrote a follow-up article at ESPN that seemed to suggest Wilson may be the one getting investigated by NFL rules officials. In Seifert’s story, the only possible discipline mentioned was in regard to Wilson, not Hill.
Per the ESPN Vikings beat reporter, the NFL rulebook states that any “unnecessary physical conduct with a game official” warrants immediate ejection. He also notes that Hill did not throw a flag on Wilson during their exchange, and that the NFL’s replay command center did not eject him either.
The NFL rulebook calls for players to be ejected from a game if they make “unnecessary physical conduct with a game official.” Hill did not throw a flag on Wilson, and the NFL’s replay command center — which has the authority this season to eject players for flagrant non-football acts even if there is no flag — did not weigh in.
Kevin Seifert – ESPN
Related: Giants Swoop in on Another Minnesota Viking
However, context is important here. Schefter reported on the Wilson vs Referee altercation shortly after the longtime NFL insider reported the same thing on a different referee-involved incident that took place Sunday.
That one happened at MetLife Stadium, where a ref was caught on camera and a hot mic cussing at Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride during their afternoon Week 4 contest yesterday.
The NFL said it is reviewing the situation in which an official appears to use profanity at Cardinals TE Trey McBride. The NFLPA Executive Director JC Tretter called for the NFL to hold the official accountable. https://t.co/NuueChAmrx
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 4, 2026
Schefter also got on ESPN’s Get Up Monday morning. There, he talked about both referee-involved incidents in Week 4, along with the NFLPA’s recent cry for more enforcement and discipline of officials who cross the line with players.
If the NFL calls Adrian Hill as part of their review process on what happened between him and Wilson, what is the 17-year veteran referee going to tell the investigators?
Referee claims he was trying to break up a fight
Well, after the game, Eric Wilson spoke with reporters and told them that he apologized and tried to explain himself to Hill at halftime. What was the referee’s reaction? Apparently, Hill told the apologetic Vikings linebacker that he wasn’t actually upset in the moment.
Instead, the head referee claims he was only focused on breaking up the imminent throwdown between Wilson and Dolphins running back Ollie Gordon, who engaged in the block that led to the referee tumbling head-over-heels to the turf.
#Vikings LB Eric Wilson said he apologized to the referee for this altercation during the game, and the ref said he was just trying to break up a potential fight between Wilson and the #Dolphins player. What 😭 https://t.co/q1e4yxxfjH
— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) October 5, 2026
“That was funny, honestly. I ended up apologizing to him and explained the situation. He was cool about it. He understood what was going on. He just said he didn’t want us fighting, me and [Gordon]. He said he was just trying to break us up.”
Eric Wilson on his interaction Sunday with referee Adrian Hill
Of course, there was no imminent throwdown to break up. So what in the world is Adrian Hill talking about? You never can know for sure because we cannot crawl into the brain of yesterday’s MN Vikings vs Dolphins head referee.
But the most likely scenario, in my opinion, is that Hill is lying — probably out of embarrassment. For whatever reason, something triggered his fight response when Wilson knocked him over yesterday.
As an NFL referee, who is supposed to be calm, cool and collected at all times, he immediately regretted what happened. Instead of coming clean when approached by Eric Wilson at halftime, he lied. And now here we are.