San Francisco 49ers: 5 Things We Learned from the Loss to the Minnesota Vikings

As to not abuse an overwrought cliché, the San Francisco 49ers have fallen—and have fallen hard.

After a monumental upset to the Vikings, the 49ers find themselves at 2-1 and thoroughly asking, “What happened?”

This was a game that was purportedly in the bag for—again—the purportedly best team in the league. Yet, the 49ers lost 24-13 to a team that they never should have lost to.

The former 1-1 Minnesota Vikings outplayed San Francisco—simply put.

On that note, let’s give a gander to the five things that we learned most unfortunately about the 49ers.

Christian Ponder 1, 49ers 0

The sophomore quarterback played well beyond any pregame projections.

Ponder put NFL pundits to shame with his performance on Sunday. Even while dinking-and-dunking down the field, he consistently hit receivers in stride.

He did not make the types of bad decisions that are typical of this type of player. Even Superman himself—Mr. Cam Newton—grossly underperformed on Thursday when compared to the Florida State product.

Ponder exhibited great touch on passes when the 49ers pass rush was at its most ferocious.

He connected with tight end Kyle Rudolph for a touchdown when the 49ers stacked the box in anticipation of a fourth-consecutive Peterson rush on 4th-and-short. Dashon Goldson came off the edge and provided effective pressure on Ponder.

But said “touch” was on full display on that particular play—and beyond—on Sunday.

The 49ers were dissected in a way they couldn’t have ever expected. It’s fair to say that Ponder didn’t expect it either.

A Questionable Harbaugh

For essentially the first time in the Jim Harbaugh era, one could legitimately question the head coach’s decision making.

Harbaugh called for field goals on multiple occasions when the 49ers were in Vikings territory. The one knock on this team from last year was its lack of red-zone productivity.

He and his Niners squad catered to that incredulous bunch on Sunday.

Akers had a field goal blocked and kicked a pair of 29-yarders all on 4th-and-short scenarios. Playing it safe really had no place in this game.

Tight End, Wide Receiver Killers

Kyle Rudolph and Percy Harvin were the two players that should have been the focus of the 49ers defense.

Adrian Peterson was a member of the obvious; Rudolph and Harvin were the ancillary yet fully dangerous contingent.

Harvin totaled 173 yards from scrimmage in an effort that went way beyond the box score. He continually knifed through the defense and provided excellent field position for the Vikings.

Rudolph used his 6’6’’ frame to his complete advantage on the day as well. The Notre Dame product hauled in two touchdowns in goal-line scenarios where the 49ers stopped the run but failed on the fade in the back of the end zone.

Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman covered well in certain situations but failed, along with their safety brethren, in the operative situations.

Randy Moss—Sir?

T-Rex is a fairly pejorative term when applied to NFL wide receivers.

On this day, Randy Moss short-changed his team with several poor efforts. He deserved the derogatory nomenclature.

Moss was 6-for-8 on targets in his outing at his old stomping grounds. After a short-armed attempt at the first pass, well, it was evident that his head wasn’t fully in the game.

He converted on a sideline pass on a third-down play but, otherwise, appeared overwhelmed by NFL physicality.

One of the most prolific in NFL history played in a way that would not honor such a track record.

The dynamic between vengeance and actualization was not so commensurate.

This Is the NFL

Trap games were supposed to be a matter of outside analyst conjecture.

Today, however, media speak turned itself into reality.

The Vikings that barely beat the lowly Jaguars and lost to a rookie QB-led team absolutely handled the best in the business. Defeating the 49ers was an accomplishment unforeseen by any official—or unofficial—outside observers.

For the pundits that predicted this upset, well, a relative savant nomination is on the way.

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