Sunday's AFC Title Matchup Was 'The Worst Commercial Ever' For Microsoft

During Sunday's AFC championship between the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos, the Patriots coaching staff realized their tablets that are used for instant replays and other tools were not working.

The tablets in question were Microsoft Corporation MSFT's Surface devices and are part of a $400 million marketing collaboration between the tech giant ant the NFL.

"They're having some trouble with their Microsoft Surface tablets," CBS' sideline reporter Evan Washburn reported during the game. "On the last defensive possession the Patriots' coaches did not have access to those tablets to show pictures to their players. NFL officials have been working at it. Some of those tablets are back in use, but not all of them. A lot of frustration that they didn't have them on that last possession."

The Denver Broncos' coaching staff didn't experience any outages and was able to use the device with no interruptions. NFL rules stipulate that neither team is permitted to use a tablet if a malfunction occurs before the game.

Microsoft told CNET in a statement that the issue was not related to the tablets themselves, rather "an issue with the network."

Despite Microsoft's statement, Forbes opined that the Surface "got the worst commercial ever."