The San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings are preparing for Saturday's Divisional round playoff game at Levi's Stadium with a trip to the NFC Championship Game on the line. Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer jumped on a conference call with the media on Tuesday and discussed a couple of the 49ers players he and his team will be tasked to stop.
Zimmer was asked about the 49ers quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, who is preparing for his first-ever playoff game. He finished the regular season, his first full one as a starter, going 329-of-476 (69.1 percent) for 3,978 yards with 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions through 16 starts.
That's after coming off an ACL injury that cut short his 2018 campaign.
"I think he's doing great," Zimmer told reporters. "I feel like he's making quick decisions; he gets the ball out in the right place. On the moving passes, he does a great job of finding the guys.
"I know they do a great job with their scheme as far as getting guys open in the passing game, but I think he's been really effective as far as making the throws. He's been good in the pocket, and he's taking good care of the football."
Garoppolo's favorite target is tight end George Kittle, who once again led the 49ers in receiving this season with 85 catches for 1,053 yards with five touchdowns through 14 starts. He became just the fifth player and first tight end in franchise history to record multiple 1,000-yard-receiving seasons.
Zimmer knows Kittle might be the most dangerous weapon in Garoppolo's arsenal.
"He's great with run-after-the-catch," the coach said of Kittle. "They use him in a lot of screens. They use him on rockets. They use him all different ways. He's very nifty in the passing game. Then he'll give you a head fake, and a shake, and then break the other way. And he's got great speed.
"You combine those three things with his run-after-catch ability, and the way he can get open in routes, it makes it very difficult (to defend)."
The 49ers and Vikings kick off on Saturday at 1:35 p.m. PT from Levi's Stadium.
