In week two of the NFL season the San Francisco 49ers traveled to Minnesota to take on the Vikings.  Minny has been a house of horrors for the 49ers, who have not won there since Rickey Waters’ rookie season of 1992.  Sadly, the tradition would continue this season as the Niners fell to the Vikings 23-17.  Let’s talk about what went wrong and if anything went right for the red and gold this week.

First let’s discuss the big news in 49ers nation, the injury to Christian McCaffrey.  CMC had “his worst day” so far on Thursday and it was decided that he needed to go on the IR.  This means he has to miss at least 4 games (this week included) before he can return to the field.  There has been reports that he may miss at least 6 weeks.  The six weeks news is tough but I am very glad the 49ers are taking it slow with CMC.  They are going to need him much more come playoff time than they do now.  Having him healthy in January is much more important.  Hopefully he will be able to make a full recovery and get back on the field this season.  Madden Curse be damned. 

One of the big reasons the Niners do not need CMC to rush back is because of the play of Jordan Mason.  Mason looked great again today, running through and over guys and arm tackles as he ran for 100 yards and a TD on 20 carries. I actually thought the Niners should have ran the ball more.  Especially in the first half, when they were really effective.  Mason doesn’t have the versatility of McCaffrey, but he gets it done as a running back.  Though he did catch a pass today.  He is on a 2,100-yard, 17 touchdown pace after 2 games.  I think the Niners would take that. 

Helping Mason to another nice game was his offensive line.  While not perfect, I though the offensive line was outstanding in this game.  Aside from the nice rushing game the line also did very well in pass protection.  I felt that most of the pressure and sacks that Purdy had to deal with were due to the coverage of the Vikings secondary.  Purdy had time to go through multiple reads on most pass plays before either letting lose on a pass or finally succumbing to pressure.  I don’t get to see the “All 22” camera angle so I don’t know if guys were not getting open or if Purdy was missing open guys but he spent a lot of time going through his progressions in this game.  The O-Line playing as well as it has in the first two weeks is a great sign for the Niners as it was supposed to be the one weak spot on the team.  It has not been a weak spot at all so far. 

Speaking of Purdy, I thought he had another good but not great game.  Like I said, he seemed to have trouble finding places to go with the ball and in the second half, much like last week, I thought he started trying to force things a bit.  The interception came when he tried to put the ball in a tight window and it got batted into the air.  He did make some plays with his feet.  Running for a first down at one point and extending plays in and out of the pocket.  He had another highlight reel pass after scrambling around in the backfield then throwing a perfect pass to the side line for a catch.  You know, the stuff he supposedly doesn’t do. 

The offense as a whole was very disjointed and ugly this whole game.  That is aside from the one 99-yard drive they put together to get themselves back in the game in the 4^th quarter.  They really just couldn’t string together a handful of good plays in a row.  Minnesota’s defense really won this game.  They were as good as any Vikings fan could have wanted.  As I said, the coverage was great, they didn’t give up but a couple of big plays.  They really controlled the game and got their team the victory.  Hats off to them.  I did like that the Niners were aggressive in going for it on three 4^th downs.  I am not a big fan that they only converted 1 of them.  Of course it was on a nice play to 4th(?) and Jauan.      

The 49ers defense were no slouches either.  Except for the one huge play to Jefferson, the Niners defense played great under the circumstances.  Holding them to 3 after the blocked punt (What did I tell you about special teams?!?!?) was huge in the first half.  They had 4 sacks (Bosa with 2 of them), 5 pass defenses and 2 turnovers.  That’s a good day.  Fred Warner was involved in both turnovers.  He punched the ball out to cause the fumble that was recovered by Yiadom on the goal line.  It’s his second forced fumble in as many games.  And he had the interception.  They could not get the big stop at the end of the game to get the ball back to the offense one last time but you can’t depend on the defense for everything.  At some point the offense has to show up.  The defensive line looks like it’s going to be a real weapon this season.  And if the Secondary can stop having it’s one blunder play a week, it can be just as good.  This could be the best defense in the league if they can get some rest from the offense putting on long drives.

The one issue that has plagued the 49ers defense this season has been third downs.  They had had a problem getting off the field on 3^rd downs.  It’s only been two games but opposing teams have converted 13 of 22 third downs for 60% rate.  That has to come down. 

I thought it was a pretty ugly game for both teams.  Vikings’ miscues kept the 49ers in the game in the first half.  Their unbelievably botched toss play and the punt coverage team stepping on the goal line were big plays that kept Minny from running away in the first half.  The Niners had the blocked punt and a muffed punt as well.  Both teams only had a hand full of penalties, though the Viking should have had another one for roughing the passer right before the blocked punt but what are you gonna do. 

Some quick hitters…

–I am pretty sure the Vikings coach is 18 years old.  I would have definitely carded him if he came into the liquor store I used to work at. 

–This was one of only two 10am PT start times for the Niners this season.  The only other one is a game in Tampa in November.

–Well, at least Justin Jefferson is on my fantasy team.  Not that he helped me win this week.

–I didn’t notice on the broadcast that stupid horn the Vikings do on ever first down they get.  Do they not use it anymore? 

–They didn’t run many plays with Deebo in the backfield.  Probably because there were but a few long drives this week.  They did run plays with him back there where he did not get the ball. 

–This week the 49ers kicked all their kick offs into the endzone.  Deebo did try to return a kick out of the endzone and it was a disaster as he only made it to the 20 and there was a penalty on the play so they started at the 10.  Hopefully he learned his lesson. 

Well, that abut covers it for this week.  Next week the Niners are off to Levi’s South as they head to LA to take on the Rams.