Second
straight loss for the struggling San Francisco 49ers
In Minneapolis The San Francisco 49ers were unbeaten and the talk of the league less than two weeks ago following their thrashing of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.
The 22-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night was a sloppy one for the Niners, and that
game seemed like it happened two years ago in the locker room. Three turnovers,
a blocked 40-yard field goal, and Minnesota's 60-yard score just before
halftime were among the 49ers' errors on Monday. San Francisco
suffered their second straight loss as a result, which they had not done since
this day one year prior. There was a strong feeling that everything had fallen
apart after a strong 5-0 start. Defensive end Nick Bosa remarked, "The NFL will humble you every step of the way. And after starting 5-0, you kind of develop the assurance that you are what you need to
be, but the NFL does that. We're going to play this week against another good
squad, so we need to be prepared. Good players, good schemes
The Niners need tofind a way to recover from defeats to the Cleveland Browns last week and on
Monday in order to turn their season around. The Niners had chances to win in
the last seconds of both games, but they struggled to play the complementary
football they did in the first five weeks.
The Niners are irritated that they appear to be great when they control the game from the
start—they won the first five games by an average of 19.8 points—but suffer
when things go tight. This is evident from the fact that they lost both times.
Teams that make it far into the postseason can win any type of game they play, as linebacker Fred
Warner was happy to point out.
The Niners had numerous chances on Monday night to put themselves in a much better position to
earn their sixth victory. They could have made it more challenging for Vikings
quarterback Kirk Cousins, who shredded them for 378 yards and two scores while
going unhurt and only experiencing pressure on 25% of his 45 dropbacks.
When it was over, quarterback Brock Purdy took responsibility for a pair of late-game
interceptions when San Francisco was driving for the potentially decisive
score; running back Christian McCaffrey bemoaned his first quarter fumble deep
in Minnesota territory; kicker Jake Moody wished he could go back and make the
field goal attempt from 40 yards out that he missed; and running back Jake
McCaffrey bemoaned his first-quarter fumble deep in Minnesota territory.
However, the strangest play of the evening may have been the one that caused the 49ers the
greatest pain. The Vikings appeared prepared to take a pass underneath that
might help set up a field goal when they faced a third-and-6 situation at their
40 with 16 seconds left and no timeouts.
Instead, Niners defensive coordinator Steve Wilks activated a full-fledged blitz, sending seven
defenders at Cousins. Cousins reportedly checked into a deep pass for rookie
wideout Jordan Addison after realizing the pressure, according to Vikings coach
Kevin O'Connell. Charvarius Ward of the Niners intercepted the ball as it was flying toward Addison, appearing to be the player's second of the game. To give Minnesota a 16-7 lead, Addison
ripped the ball away from Ward and ran into the end zone without any assistance
from Ward.
O'Connell recalled,
"That was a play that changed the game."
Wilks' call was likewise out of the ordinary. NFL Next Gen Stats reports that it was the first
7-man pass rush in enemy territory within the last 30 seconds of a half since
Week 11 of 2020. When asked about the call following the game, Niners coach
Kyle Shanahan stated his staff would discuss it in the days to come.
That will be something we talk about this week, Shanahan added.
The challenge will only get more difficult for a Niners team that was a Super Bowl favorite going
into the season and then played like one for the first five weeks. They
departed Minnesota late on Monday night for their flight home, where they will
start getting ready for the Cincinnati Bengals, who are coming off a bye and
two straight victories.Following a bye week, the Niners will travel to play the
Jacksonville Jaguars, then play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks,
Philadelphia Eagles, and Seattle Seahawks once more. At least in writing, it is.
again, the Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles. It is the Niners' most challenging stretch of games,
at least according to the schedule, and it will determine how seriously they
should be viewed as contenders.
"We can't sit here and worry about what's happened before this," Shanahan stated.
"We must ensure that we take all possible action from this moment on until
the conclusion of the game on Sunday in an effort to defeat the Bengals.
Following that, we get a week off. We have 512 days left, so we need to put all
of our attention there in order to ensure that we enter the bye week 6-2 rather
than 5-3. I just glanced at our players right now.