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What we learned from the 49ers’ mistakes that led to their loss to the Vikings Originally appeared in NBC Bay Area Sports
MINNEAPOLIS — The 49ers didn’t have to play a perfect game to emerge from Week 2 with a win over the Minnesota Vikings.
Instead, the 49ers played terrible football, with an abundance of mistakes across the board.
The 49ers couldn’t do much on offense, and the defense and special teams had their share of lapses in a 23-17 loss to the Vikings on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
49ers’ record drops to 1-1 after impressive 2024 NFL season opener Victory over the New York Jets.
The organization’s streak of futility on the road continued Sunday against the Vikings.
He 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 in all areas
The 49ers did themselves no favors by digging themselves into a 10-point deficit in the first half. And they found it difficult to get back into the game due to even more mistakes.
The special teams and defense allowed two huge plays that forced the 49ers to try to dig out of a hole for most of the game.
The first breakdown occurred at the end of the team’s second possession.
Vikings special teams player CJ Ham squeezed through the gap on the right side between Robert Beal and guard George Odum to block Mitch Wishnowsky’s punt.
Trishton Jackson picked up the loose ball and returned it 37 yards to the 49ers 24-yard line. The Vikings settled for a field goal to score their 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 NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver, blew up 49ers safeties Odum and Ji’Ayir Brown for a 97-yard touchdown pass.
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 in 1950.
The blocked punt was the first against the 49ers since the Arizona Cardinals’ Ezekiel Turner blocked Wishnowsky in Week 1 of the 2020 season.
The 49ers nearly had another disastrous play on special teams when rookie Jacob Cowing fumbled a punt deep in 49ers territory. After a crazy scramble during which several players from both teams had their chances, Isaac Yiadom recovered the ball to keep the 49ers in possession.
The offense also made its share of mistakes. Quarterback Brock Purdy’s interception in the third quarter led to a Vikings touchdown that made it 20-7.
On the next drive, the ball slipped out of Purdy’s hands as he threw it and the Vikings recovered the ball. That loss was not costly as Fred Warner forced a fumble at the goal line.
Warner goes big In Coverage
All-Pro Fred Warner has been Best Middle Linebacker in the game for a while.
And if the first two games of the season are any indication, he could take his game to even greater heights in 2024.
Warner made a big defensive play in the second quarter when the 49ers needed it. The Vikings were up 10-0 and were ready to extend their lead.
Warner dropped to an intermediate zone and provoked Darnold into making a throw over the middle to former 49ers receiver Trent Sheffield.
Warner rotated his hips and stretched toward the center of the field for his ninth career regular-season interception.
He returned the pass 25 yards to set up the 49ers’ first touchdown of the game.
The Vikings’ first drive ended when Warner deflected a third-and-10 pass intended for running back Aaron Jones.
Warner saved a touchdown near the end of the third quarter when he stripped the ball from Jones at the goal line. Yiadom recovered it. It was the 13th forced fumble of Warner’s career and his second in two games this season.
Bets don’t pay off for riverboat Kyle
Coach Kyle Shanahan showed an uncharacteristically aggressive side early in the second quarter when he kept the offense on the field on fourth down.
It was a fourth-and-three situation from the Minnesota 45-yard line, and Purdy connected with Jauan Jennings for a 25-yard gain.
But two subsequent gambles failed to pay off and the 49ers turned the ball over on consecutive possessions.
Shanahan decided to pass on the short field goal on a fourth-and-two situation. Andrew Van Ginkel and Harrison Smith deflected the pass to Jennings.
On the next possession, trailing 10-0, the 49ers went for fourth-and-2 from the Minnesota 43. Purdy found no one open and gained just 1 yard on a scramble.
Last year, the 49ers attempted fourth down just 13 times in 17 games and converted seven of those attempts.