A wild and crazy statement win for the Vikings

The Vikings and 49ers went back and forth on Sunday and the Vikings walked out as a team to be taken seriously

By Matthew Coller

MINNEAPOLIS —I dare you to find a crazier, more impressive top-to-bottom win in recent history pulled off by the Minnesota Vikings than Sunday’s victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

When the dust settled on the turnover-laden contest that saw everything from a blocked punt to bouncing picks to full-field touchdown drives, the Vikings were deserving the attention of the rest of the NFL as a dangerous team.

Here’s how it went down…

The Vikings started out the game in ideal fashion on defense, nearly intercepting Brock Purdy and then collapsing the pocket on third down to force an incompletion. When Danielle Hunter left and the Vikings signed Jonathan Greenard, it was treated as a poor-man’s-version type of addition, yet Greenard’s quickness off the edge is more reflective of an elite player at his position. On third down, he got underneath the 49ers’ right tackle and pressured Purdy into a bad decision.

Sam Darnold’s “revenge game” started out with some ups and downs.

Darnold completed a quick pass to Justin Jefferson and then made a play when he faced pressure on third down. He escaped the 49ers’ and scrambled 15 yards for a first down, proving that a QB in purple can indeed create something with their legs.

After the first down, the referees missed an obvious facemask call. That seemed to throw things off as Kevin O’Connell argued with the refs on the sideline. The Vikings were forced to call a timeout and then two players got confused and went in motion at the same time. Then Darnold seemed to panic and threw the ball backward for a 13-yard loss.

That along with a pass breakup from star LB Fred Warner resulted in the Vikings having to punt.

Dallas Turner, new to special teams, recovered Ryan Wright’s punt near the goal line and stepped into the end zone, moving the 49ers up to the 20 rather than the shadow of their own goal line.

The Vikings’ third down pass rush arrived again though as Jihad Ward got after Purdy, forcing another inaccurate ball.

And then CJ Ham made a game-changing play. Ham flew through the 49ers’ line and blocked a punt. Theo Jackson picked it up and returned it to the 24-yard line. There’s a reason they keep bringing the veteran fullback back year after year.

The offense picked up on the momentum from there, finding Jones for a 14-yard screen pass first down to put them deep in 49ers territory. (Yes, this team is allowed to succeed on screens). But the messy start to the game continued after that as Darnold nearly threw an interception in the back of the end zone and Will Reichard kicked a short field goal to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead.

Talk about a frenetic opening to the game.

San Fran’s sloppiness continued with two penalties that moved them back inside the 5-yard line. An energized US Bank Stadium and a Brian Flores blitz wasn’t enough to throw off Purdy this time as he stood in the pocket calmly and converted a third down pass to George Kittle. That got the 49ers going as Jordan Mason, who looked like Marshawn Lynch at times, blasted forward for a 9-yard gain to move the 49ers near mid-field in an eyeblink.

After an Andrew Van Ginkel sack, Kyle Shanahan dialed up the perfect play call with a screen that led the 49ers to fourth-and-3. They elected to go for it at the Vikings 45-yard line and Purdy showed exactly why he’s more than a game manager. He threw a perfectly accurate pass to Jauan Jennings for a 25-yard gain. In the red zone, the Vikings stuffed a Mason run and Purdy found George Kittle for a short gain, setting up fourth-and-goal. The 49ers went for it again, this time Andrew Van Ginkel tipped a Purdy pass at the line of scrimmage and Harrison Smith broke it up in the end zone, ending the long San Fran drive with nothing.

And then the whistle sounded for America to get on the Sam Darnold hype train.

Backed up to their own 3-yard line, Darnold launched a football into the stratosphere in the general direction of Justin Jefferson. It turned out to be a brilliant plan. The ball fell out of the sky into Jefferson’s hands on the 49ers’ side of the field and the superstar wide receiver dodged two chasing defenders, weaving all over the red zone and eventually found the corner of the end zone for a 97-yard touchdown. Gus Frerotte, be proud.

It turns out that other QBs can throw it to Jefferson effectively. Good thing he didn’t demand a trade, huh?

The Vikings’ defense continued to give the offense every chance to succeed. The 49ers, suddenly down 10-0, went for another fourth down from the Vikings’ 43-yard line. Purdy attempted a scramble and was stopped by local hero Blake Cashman in his first game at US Bank Stadium. Vikings ball.

With a chance to put the 49ers in an enormous hole. Speedy Ty Chandler picked up 25 on a rush to the outside, putting the Vikings in position to potentially take a three-score lead into halftime.

Instead the Sam Darnold experience arrived. On first down at the San Fran 21, Kevin O’Connell couldn’t help himself. The pass button was simply too attractive. Rather than keeping the ball on the ground or running an underneath pass or screen, Darnold took a straight drop-back and fired over the middle of the field toward Trent Sherfield. Fred Warner picked off the throw and ran it back to the 35-yard line.

This isn’t the New York Giants, folks. The 49ers were shot out of a cannon after the INT, hitting Deebo Samuel for a 28-yard pass. Jordan “Marshawn” Mason then carried a guy on his back for half of a 22-yard run.

Once again the 49ers were in the red zone with 2:00 left in a highly-entertaining half. Purdy escaped the Vikings’ rush this time and dumped the ball to Kittle for a touchdown.

It felt like the Vikings should have been up about 20 points and instead it was a 3-point game.

Darnold got the ball back with just under two minutes remaining with a chance to totally redeem himself. Despite taking a sack from freakshow Nick Bosa, Darnold bounced back and tossed another pass to Jefferson for a first down in the general ballpark of Will Reichard’s field goal range.

With 11 seconds left in the half, Darnold used his legs again, scrambling inside the 20-yard line to set up an easier kick for Reichard. The first two-minute drive of Darnold’s career in purple turned out to be a success with Reichard’s kick splitting the uprights to give the Vikings a 13-7 lead.

The second half didn’t start out as smoothly. The 49ers pressured Darnold into an intentional grounding penalty and they were forced to punt, giving San Fran a chance to jump on them early in the second stanza.

Purdy started out by hitting his fullback Kyle Juszczyk down the sideline for a first down but once again the Vikings’ third-down rush came to play. Jihad Ward and Patrick Jones showed they can be effective situational rushers, blasting through and collapsing on Purdy for a sack that ended SF’s drive.

O’Connell got Darnold rolling with a play-action pass to Sherfield and then Jones followed up with a run for nine yards. But the Darnold roller coaster was whipping up and down. The veteran QB looked like he was going to have room to escape but he ran backward into Bosa for a sack.

The 49ers continued their sloppy play, fumbling the punt. It kicked around like a whiffle ball in the wind before eventually landed back in San Fran’s hands.

Speaking of landing in someone’s hands, Purdy’s first throw got tipped up in the air, bounced off Blake Cashman and then Cam Bynum and then into the mitts of Josh Metellus. Just like that, Vikings ball at the San Francisco 10-yard line.

One play later, a play-action pass got Jalen Nailor wide open in the end zone for a touchdown. 20-7, Vikings.

Are you not entertained?

Patrick Jones continued his rampage, running free at Purdy and sacking him for a big loss. Purdy isn’t the type to be intimidated though. He stood in the pocket and completed a pass down the middle to Brandon Aiyuk for 22 yards to get the drive going. The former Iowa State QB then scrambled for a first down, putting the 9ers on the Vikings’ side of the field with under four minutes remaining in the third.

Disaster then struck Purdy. The ball slipped out of his hand and into Jihad Ward’s hands for another strange interception.

The next few plays included more insanity and calamity. O’Connell went into running mode with three straight Ty Chandler carries that brought the Vikings to the SF 25-yard line. Justin Jefferson got hurt on the third run and needed to be helped off, immediately going to the medical tent. On the subsequent play, reliable Aaron Jones was racing toward the end zone on a screen pass and had the ball knocked out. A play that could have ended the game suddenly kept the door open for the NFC Champs of 2023.

Somehow there was still a quarter to play.