The San Francisco 49ers are back to having a winning record. They were far from perfect on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, but were able to hold on to win the game, moving to 6-5 on the season.
With that win, their third in a row, they are in the driver's seat for a postseason berth. Here are my 16 observations from the 49ers win over the Vikings:
- Jimmy Garoppolo threw an interception on the 49ers' first drive. The Vikings turned it into seven points. That wasn't the way fans hoped this game would start. Garoppolo had a few ugly throws, but he also converted four third and long plays against a defense that is very good in third and long situations.
- The 49ers second drive was a great touchdown drive to answer the Vikings touchdown. The offense did this a few times on Sunday, answering when the Vikings scored.
- Charles Omenihu is starting to make some plays for San Francisco.
Charles Omenihu with his best play as a 49er. Team needs someone to step up at DE opposite Bosa.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) November 28, 2021
- The 49ers still need to fix their offensive line. That said, they had a good game overall.
Yeah, RG is still an issue for the 49ers, to the surprise of no one I am sure
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) November 28, 2021
- Every time the offense struggles, there seems to be a lack of misdirection, play action, bootlegs, and creativity, in general.
- Deebo Samuel does it all. He had two more rushing touchdowns in this game.
Deebo Samuel is the first WR in Super Bowl era to score a rushing touchdown in 3 straight games. Cool stat.
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) November 28, 2021
49ers WR Deebo Samuel now has 5 rushing touchdowns this season, more than Dalvin Cook, Christian McCaffrey, Aaron Jones, Alvin Kamara, David Montgomery and Saquon Barkley.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) November 28, 2021
- Azeez Al-Shaair intercepted Kirk Cousins and set up an Elijah Mitchell touchdown. He's really becoming a great player. This season, he's played better than Fred Warner.
- One series after taking the ball away and setting up a touchdown, the 49ers defense let the Vikings move within a touchdown (and 2-pt conversion). The defense struggled at times in this game. But in the end, they did what they needed to do to seal the game.
Bad-tackling secondary is back for the 49ers. Two big mistackles by Tartt and Norman and the Vikings are within sev..., er, ...eight with more than a quarter and a half remaining.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) November 28, 2021
- Mitchell continues to impress me. He's had a great rookie season. Today he had 133 yards rushing on 27 carries (4.9 ypc). And the kid never fumbles the ball.
- Brandon Aiyuk had another great game. He had three catches for 91 yards. He's also blocking really well downfield.
- The 49ers kickoff coverage let the Vikings back in the game. They didn't even come close to tackling the kick returner.
- Samuel had a third quarter catch that put him over 1000 yards receiving on the season. Later, he would leave the game with a groin injury. It's not a serious injury, but he will miss a couple of games. It will be challenging for the 49ers to win without him. He's become the team's best player.
- Al-Shaair had his second takeaway of the game. This time it was a fumble recovery, forced by Kevin Givens.
- Josh Norman was called for DPI—yet again. He's the worst.
- The 49ers Special Teams was especially bad in this game. That touchdown return and missed field goal almost cost the 49ers the game.
- The defense came through with a stop to win the game. If they can play like we know they're capable of playing, no one will want to play the 49ers. That said, this secondary still makes me very nervous.
The 49ers have now won three games in a row, and four out of their last five. They are well within reach of the playoffs.
Next up, the struggling Seahawks, in Seattle.