INGLEWOOD, Calif. — An apparent facemask on Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold went unpunished late Thursday night in the fourth quarter at SoFi Stadium because no referee had a clear view of the play, referee Tra Blake told a pool reporter after the game.

Broadcasts showed Los Angeles Rams linebacker Byron Young grabbed Darnold’s facemask and threw him to the ground in the end zone for a sack and a safety, giving Los Angeles a commanding 30-20 lead with 1 minute, 46 seconds left to go. The match ended on the same score.

Under NFL principles, the referee has primary responsibility for fouls involving hitting the quarterback.

“The quarterback was looking the other way than me, so I couldn’t get a good look at it,” Blake said. “I didn’t look and obviously I didn’t see the mask being taken off.”

Umpire Carl Paganelli had secondary responsibility for making the call. But according to Blake, he was also blocked.

“The referee had players between him and the quarterback, so he couldn’t get a good look at it,” Blake said. “It was also blocked. So that’s it. We didn’t see it, so we couldn’t mention it.”

Under NFL rules, the play cannot be reviewed.

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said he would not use the missed call as an explanation for losing the game.

“It looked like he had quite a few face masks in there,” O’Connell said. “I’m not going to comment on the call, or non-call, or any of that stuff. I’ve talked to our team, to the leadership and all that stuff … so we can talk about that, so we can take comfort in that , is not how we’re going to respond to this. It’s just not going to happen. I’m going to do the same thing now. I really have no comment on the face mask there, but they didn’t think so, so they didn’t throw the flag.”

Darnold added: “The face mask, it is what it is. I thought there was a lot we could have done to not put ourselves in the situation we were in. … So we just have to keep playing better and not put ourselves in that position to begin with.”