NFL Week 1: San Francisco 49ers vs Minnesota Vikings Recap

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NFL

San Francisco 49ers vs Minnesota Vikings Recap

The San Francisco 49ers loss to the Minnesota Vikings is not the way Niners fans had hoped to start the 2018 NFL season. Going up against the leagues number 1 ranked defense was never going to be an easy task for the 49ers. The Vikings led from start to finish winning 24-16, with Jimmy Garoppolo’s winning streak as a 7-0 starter coming to an end.

At times the Niners showed good things on both offense and defense. However, the 49ers loss ultimately came down to missed opportunities. The Vikings applied pressure to Garoppolo resulting in poor plays, interceptions and failure to get the points in the red zone.

Injuries

WR Marquise Goodwin left the field in the 2nd quarter and did not return for the remainder of the game. The speedster received a quadricep contusion after colliding with an opposing player. Dante Pettis came in and replaced Goodwin.

RG Mike Person also left the game in the 2nd quarter and did not return after receiving an injury to his left foot. Person was replaced by backup Joshua Garnett, however Garnett also suffered an injury to his left foot in the 3rd quarter and did not return.

This resulted in Mike McGlinchey moving from RT to RG and Garry Gilliam filling in at RT.

LB Brock Coyle suffered a concussion in the 4th quarter with Elijah Lee called upon to take over.

Offense

The offense had a total of 237 passing yards and 90 rushing yards for a combined total of 327 yards.

The 49ers offense continued to struggle in the red zone. From 5 red zone attempts they converted for a TD on only 1 occasion, with 3 FG’s and 1 fumble.

The Niners only TD came from a 22-yard reception to Pettis in the end zone during the 3rd quarter.

Garoppolo was far from impressive during the course of the game. He went 15-33 in passing for a total of 261 yards and 1 TD. While he did have some great moments, for the most part Garoppolo was average. He threw 3 interceptions, with 1 returned in the 3rd quarter for a 28-yard pick 6 by Vikings CB Mike Hughes.

Garoppolo was sacked 4 times, receiving 1 sack in each quarter of the game.

While it was no stand out game for Jimmy, a weak right side of the offensive line and mistakes by receivers did not help his stats.

TE George Kittle impressed, leading the 49ers receivers for a total of 5 receptions for 90 receiving yards. With Garoppolo leaning on Kittle on more than one occasion to get the first down.

RB Matt Breida led the team in rushing yards for a total of 11 carries for 46 yards. The Vikings defense had the run game shut down with only a handful of big gains while rushing.

Missed Opportunities

The 49ers loss can amongst other things, be contributed to a failure to execute and missed opportunities during the game.

RB Alfred Morris fumbled on the Vikings 1-yard line resulting in a turnover to Minnesota in the 2nd quarter. This came at the end of the Niners longest drive of the game with an impressive 14 plays and 8 minutes of game time.

With Pettis over the line in the end zone, Vikings CB Trae Waynes broke up a potential TD pass to the young rookie.

Pierre Garcon also dropped a TD pass in the end zone during the 3rd quarter.

George Kittle dropped an easy catch while wide open in the 3rd quarter resulting in the 49ers losing a much-needed gain.

Defense

Overall, the 49ers defense performed well, restricting the Vikings offense to 24 points. However, they had moments of greatness and fizzled at other times.

Early on, missed tackles by 49ers led to some big gains for the Vikings. Minnesota RB Dalvin Cook returned for his first game since tearing his ACL in week 4 of the 2017 season. He was effective in the run game causing missed tackles on multiple occasions. Cook had 16 carries for a total of 40 rushing yards and 6 receptions for 55 receiving yards.

The Niners pass rush has been something fans and analysts have been concerned about during the off-season. During the 49ers loss however, there was good inside pressure applied to Cousins. While there is still improvement needed on the edge, for the most part the 49ers pass rush game was effective.

DT DeForest Buckner was the standout player on defense, with 2.5 sacks. Rookie LB Fred Warner was also impressive during his first regular season game. Warner forced a fumble on Cook during the 2nd quarter which CB Richard Sherman recovered.

The Cousins Effect

The Vikings offence had a total of 227 passing yards and 116 rushing yards for a combined total of 343 yards. Vikings QB Kirk Cousins went 20-36 in passing for a total of 244 yards and 2 TD’s.

Cousins was the superior QB, remaining calm in the pocket and directing his players around the field. While Garoppolo has only 7 starts under his belt and will be prone to make mistakes from time to time, Cousins showed that coolness which comes from being a veteran QB.

The Vikings 1st TD came from a Cousins pass to WR Stefon Diggs over the top of CB Ahkello Witherspoon in the 2nd quarter. The other was a Cousins pass to TE Kyle Rudolph in the 3rd quarter. S Jaquiski Tartt made the mistake of watching Rudolph instead of the ball leading to an easy catch for the TE.

The Niners defense made some big plays, holding out Cousins and his offense at the end of the 2nd quarter and again towards the end of the 4th. The defense was tipped to be the 49ers weakness coming into the season, however, they were the winner over the offense in this week’s game.

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