Dallas, Texas The San Francisco 49ers were the buzz of the league and unbeaten just over two weeks ago after crushing the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football (NFL).
That game may as well have been played two years ago inside the Niners’ locker room following their dreadful 22-17 defeat to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night. Three turnovers, a missed 40-yard field goal, and Minnesota’s 60-yard touchdown shortly before halftime on an extremely uncommon all-out blitz were among the 49ers’ errors on Monday.
After a commanding 5-0 start, the outcome was their second straight loss—something San Francisco hadn’t encountered since this day a year ago—and a pervasive feeling that everything had collapsed.
“The NFL will humble you every step of the way,” defendersa Said Nick Bosa. “And We need to be prepared since we’re playing a solid club this week and they have fantastic players and strategies.”
Charvarius Ward said gimme that 😤
📺: #SFvsMIN on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/riDUhbzXkK pic.twitter.com/XytGIlAB2J— NFL (@NFL) October 24, 2023
To reverse the trend, the Niners need to figure out how to win games similar to the ones they lost to the Cleveland Browns on Monday and last week. Although the Niners did not play as well as they had in the first five weeks of the season, they still had chances to win in the last minutes of both games.
The Niners are unhappy that they didn’t win either time, even though they appear to be okay when they are in charge.
The Niners had several chances on Monday night to improve their position and secure their sixth victory. To begin with, they could have made things harder for Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, who scorched them for 378 yards and two touchdowns on only 25% of his 45 dropbacks and was not sacked.
As an alternative, Niners defensive coordinator Steve Wilks sent seven players in an all-out blitz against Cousins. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell claims that Cousins checked into a long pass for rookie wideout Jordan Addison after sensing the pressure.
Niners cornerback Charvarius Ward jumped in front of the ball as it was flying towards Addison, appearing to intercept it for the second time that evening. With no one to assist Ward, Addison managed to take the ball away from him and sprint into the end zone for a 60-yard touchdown, giving Minnesota a 16–7 lead.