What we learned as 49ers’ blunders bring loss vs. Vikings originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
MINNEAPOLIS — The 49ers did not have to play a perfect game to emerge from Week 2 with a victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
Instead, the 49ers played a perfectly awful brand of football with an abundance of errors across the board.
The 49ers could get little going on offense, and defense and special teams had their share of breakdowns in a 23-17 loss to the Vikings on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The 49ers’ record drops to 1-1 after their impressive 2024 NFL season-opening victory over the New York Jets.
The organization’s streak of futility on the road continued Sunday against the Vikings.
The 49ers have not won in Minnesota since 1992, a streak that now includes eight consecutive losses.
Here are the takeaways from the 49ers’ loss:
Breakdowns Across The Board
The 49ers did themselves no favors while digging a 10-point hole in the first half. And they found it difficult to get back in the game due to even more miscues.
Special teams and defense allowed two huge plays that forced the 49ers to try to dig out of hole for most of the game.
The first breakdown occurred at the end of the team’s second possession of the game.
Vikings special-teamer C.J. Ham blasted through hole on the right side between Robert Beal and protector George Odum to block Mitch Wishnowsky’s punt.
Trishton Jackson scooped up the loose ball and returned it 37 yards to the 49ers’ 24-yard line. The Vikings settled for a field goal for the first points of the game.
Minnesota extended the lead to 10-0 early in the second quarter when quarterback Sam Darnold and Justin Jefferson, the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL, exploited 49ers safeties Odum and Ji’Ayir Brown for a 97-yard touchdown.
It was the longest play the 49ers’ defense has allowed in franchise history, replacing a 96-yard pass play in the organization’s inaugural NFL season of 1950.
The blocked punt was the first against the 49ers since the Arizona Cardinals‘ Ezekiel Turner broke through to block Wishnowsky in Week 1 of the 2020 season.
The 49ers nearly had another disastrous play on special teams when rookie Jacob Cowing muffed a punt deep in 49ers territory. After a mad scramble during which multiple players on both teams had their chances, Isaac Yiadom recovered for the 49ers to retain possession.
The offense made its share of blunders, too. Quarterback Brock Purdy’s interception the third quarter led to a Vikings touchdown that made the score 20-7.
On the next series, the ball slipped out of Purdy’s hand as he was throwing, and the Vikings recovered the fumble. That turnover was not costly as Fred Warner forced a fumble at the goal line.
Warner Comes Up Big In Coverage
All-Pro Fred Warner has been the best middle linebacker in the game for a while.
And if the first two games of the season are an indication, he might be taking his game to even greater heights in 2024.
Warner made a huge defensive play in the second quarter when the 49ers needed it. The Vikings were leading 10-0, and were going in to add to their lead.
Warner dropped into an intermediate zone and baited Darnold into a throw over the middle intended for former 49ers receiver Trent Sheffield.
Warner flipped his hips and stretched out toward the middle of the field for the ninth regular-season interception of his career.
He returned the pick 25 yards to set up the 49ers’ first touchdown drive of the game.
The Vikings’ first drive of the game ended when Warner broke up a third-and-10 pass intended for running back Aaron Jones.
Warner saved a touchdown near the end of the third quarter when he punched the ball from the grasp of Jones at the goal line. Yiadom recovered. It was the 13th forced fumble of Warner’s career, and the second in two games this season.
Gambles Don’t Pay Off For Riverboat Kyle
Coach Kyle Shanahan showed an uncharacteristic aggressive side early in the second quarter when he kept the offense on the field for fourth down.
It was a fourth-and-3 situation from the Minnesota 45-yard line, and Purdy hit Jauan Jennings for a 25-yard gain.
But two subsequent gambles did not pay off, and the 49ers turned the ball over on downs in back-to-back possessions.
Shanahan elected to pass up the short field goal on a fourth-and-2 situation. Andrew Van Ginkel and Harrison Smith broke up the pass for Jennings.
On the next possession, trailing 10-0, the 49ers went for it on fourth and 2 from the Minnesota 43. Purdy did not find anyone open and picked up just 1 yard on a scramble.
Last year, the 49ers went for it on fourth down just 13 times in 17 games and converted seven of those attempts.