Vikings exorcise demons in upset over 49ers

Some breaks and outstanding performances led the Vikings to a stunning win over one of the NFL's best teams

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By Matthew Coller

The Minnesota Vikings entered Monday Night Football as big underdogs to the San Francisco 49ers, who are widely considered a top team in the NFC. All the things that went wrong for the Vikings somehow flipped bodies and went to the 49ers in the 22-17 win at US Bank Stadium. But that wasn’t without massive performances from Kirk Cousins, the offensive line, rookie star Jordan Addison and Brian Flores’ aggressive defense. Now the Vikings are officially back in the discussion in the division and the playoff race.

The game opened up with the worst-case scenario. It was one of those must-be-Monday-Night-Football plays. On the second play from scrimmage Cousins threw a pass into tight coverage in the direction of Addison and veteran cornerback Charvarius Ward out-muscled him to pick off the pass. Amazingly, the turnover was fourth time the Vikings have given the ball away on the first drive of the game this year.

But the not-this-again vibe wouldn’t last long. The luck pendulum swung in the Vikings’ direction just a few plays later.

The 49ers looked like their opening script was going to blow the Vikings defense’s doors off with three straight quick passes that resulted in 10, 11 and 9 yards. Brock Purdy seemed in total control and unbothered by Brian Flores’ plan. And then superstar running back Christian McCaffrey did something very uncharacteristic: He fumbled.

The Vikings shockingly recovered and immediately got rolling on offense. On this night there would be no complaints about the offensive line. Behind strong blocking Cousins delivered strikes to TJ Hockenson for 16 yards and 22 yards to push into San Fran territory. Alexander Mattison blasted forward for a 13 yard gain and then rookie Jordan Addison found himself wide open for a 20-yard touchdown.

Where were these guys last week? This can’t be the same team that went 2-for-13 on third downs against Chicago, right?

The 49ers responded by moving the ball effectively again but they would again step on their own golden toes. Purdy pulled off a brilliant scramble to bring the 49ers into Viking territory, showing that he’s more than your run-of-the-mill quarterback who’s thriving under Kyle Shanahan. A pass breakup by corner Akayleb Evans ended the drive on third-and-5 and draft-pick kicker Jake Moody booted the ball wide right to keep the Vikings in the lead.

Yes, that’s correct, a fumble recovery and opponent missing a field goal in the same game. They said it couldn’t be done.

Things got a whole lot wilder from there.

Cousins continued to roll, getting the ball to Hockenson two more times to get into San Fran’s side of the field. Cam Akers took over from there. He gained 13 yards on a run and then after a Addison pass was overturned due to a penalty Akers took matters into his own hands with a 30-yard gain on a screen pass. Why Los Angeles moved on from Akers, who knows. Who cares.

But the Vikings couldn’t finish the job. Despite getting first-and-goal at the 2-yard line, they could not punch the ball in. For some reason they took Akers out of the game and Mattison went backward. Two incompletions later — one just out of reach of the wide open Addison — and the Vikings only went up 10-0 rather than two touchdowns. Should Kevin O’Connell have gone for it? Well…

The 49ers do not generally allow opponents to get away with handling the goal line like it’s 1985. They converted two third-and-1 plays and smash-mouthed their way down the field and into the end zone with McCaffrey to bring the score to 10-7 with around one minute remaining.

The Vikings started the drive like they had no interest in doing anything except getting to halftime. KJ Osborn went out of bounds going backward, which kept the clock draining and then Cousins threw a short pass to Mattison. And then for some reason that nobody will ever be able to explain, the 49ers threw the house at Cousins. The Vikings blocked it up and Cousins flung the ball in the direction of Addison. The Vikings’ first-round pick ripped the ball out of Ward’s hands and went into the end zone for a 60-yard touchdown.

Do the Vikings know how to pick receivers or what?

Brian Flores let the national audience know that he has been a key in this team’s defensive improvement, throwing the kitchen sink at Purdy. He caused confusion and a sack on second down that pushed the 49ers way back into their own zone and forced a punt.

OK put a team away, Vikings.

Or not. Boy did they have a chance though.

Cousins, playing one of the best games we have seen from him in purple, started gunning. Hockenson for 18 yards, Addison 11 yards and then Brandon Powell for a 27-yard gain in which Cousins beautifully navigated the pocket.

The goal line performance, however, was anything but beautiful. First the Vikings tried the Philly “Tush Push.” That failed when linebacker Fred Warned jumped the pile. Then they had a false start. Then Cousins looked for Mattison and the running back couldn’t bring the ball in. Another field goal.

The 49ers quickly made them regret kicking. Bang, 12-yard pass to McCaffrey. Bang, 28-yard throw to wide open George Kittle. Bang, screen pass that caught them blitzing for a 35-yard touchdown. 19-14 Vikings late in the third. Nail biter.

Another opportunity to run away went sideways on the following drive when the Vikings pulled off an effective screen to Ty Chandler that set them up with first-and-10 at the SF 41-yard line. A missed deep ball down the sideline to Addison was followed by a quick throw to Trishton Jackson and a bomb 54-yard field goal by Greg Joseph.

San Francisco ended their next drive with a field goal and regrets as well. Purdy had Aiyuk open over the middle on the scramble and didn’t get enough mustard on the football, leaving Moody to blast a deep field goal.

At 22-17 midway through the fourth quarter, the Vikings had a chance to put the game mostly on ice but a strange deep ball down the sideline just bounced off Osborn’s hands and the 49ers got the ball back with 9:14 left and a chance to take the lead.

Purdy has been good all year at avoiding mistakes. Not on this night, where everything seemed to be going wonky. Purdy threw the ball over the middle to nobody and it was picked off by the Vikings.

Addison continued to get the better of the battle with Ward as he earned a flag against the 49ers for a first down with under five minutes left. Cousins completed a pressured pass and the Vikings grinded with Akers for a first down. The building could feel it. The 49ers looked like they could feel it.

On third-and-3 the 49ers had their last shot at stopping the Vikings. Cousins flipped a pass in the air in Addison’s direction and the rookie again found his way wide open underneath it.

Ballgame, right?

Oh no, no, no. The Vikings are still the Vikings. Joseph missed a 50-yard field goal, giving the 49ers one last shot at pulling a come-from-behind win out of their tails in the final seconds.

Instead, another interception. Purdy had open receivers downfield and floated the ball into the hands of Cam Bynum for the Vikings’ biggest victory since last year at Buffalo.

Now what? Say goodnight to trade deadline conversations and say hello to the playoff race.

When the Vikings were sitting at 0-3 it was clear from their schedule that they would need to either upset the Chiefs or 49ers to get back into the race. On MNF they pulled off the win over San Francisco and now can argue that they are one of the seven best teams in the NFC, especially when you look at their upcoming schedule, which features nothing but mediocrity until mid-December.

The question will be whether this is an exciting blip on the mediocre radar or a turning point for a strong playoff team. That may be determined by how they show up at Lambeau next week.

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