49ers Notebook: Third down woes; Missing McCaffrey; What happened on the 97-yard touchdown?

Week 2 of the 2024 season was one to forget for the San Francisco 49ers, who committed a long list of mistakes on offense, defense and special teams during a 23-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Following the game, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and several of his players spoke to reporters about some of those mistakes, including the problems the 49ers had on third downs on both sides of the ball as well as the 97-yard touchdown pass from Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold to wide receiver Justin Jefferson. We'll dive into those topics in this version of 49ers Notebook, plus we have some comments on George Kittle about what the 49ers miss with running back Christian McCaffrey out of the lineup, as well as some words from Darnold on why it was important for the Vikings to score on the 49ers right before the half. Let's get into it...

Two perspectives of the touchdown

Darnold's touchdown pass to Jefferson might have been the one moment of the game more than any other that indicated Sunday wasn't going to be the 49ers' day.

The 49ers had momentum just moments before the touchdown after going on an 88-yard drive that moved them to the Vikings' 2-yard line. But after failing to convert on 4th-and-Goal, the Vikings took over and Darnold found Jefferson deep downfield two plays later to give the Vikings a 10-0 second quarter lead.

Among two 49ers players in coverage on the touchdown was safety Ji'Ayir Brown, who blamed himself for what happened on the play.

"I've got to be better, man. I've got to be better," Brown told reporters after the game. "I kind of let my safety [George Odum] hang in there. Yeah, I've just got to be better on that play."

Brown went on to explain his role on the play and how things went wrong, saying, "I've got Jefferson on an over. He's (Odum) got Jefferson on an up-and-out. So Jefferson stemmed inside, kind of slowed me down. I anticipated him going over, and he just kind of just took the roof off. Sam did a hell of a job throwing it too. Sam just let that thing go, man. I think he didn't care who was over there. He just let thing go and it fell right into his hands."

Cornerback Charvarius Ward credited Jefferson and Darnold for making the touchdown but also said it was a play the 49ers should have stopped.

"It was kind of like we gave him that touchdown," Ward said. "It was a great play by him. He showed up his speed, a good job catching the ball. We didn't make any adjustments after that. It was just like, we could have made that play. We were supposed to make that play, you know what I mean? But we just didn't."

Darnold told reporters that once he saw the 49ers in a coverage he liked, he decided to go deep and trust Jefferson to make the catch.

"Getting a similar coverage that we were looking for and obviously I think we had Speedy [wide receiver Jalen Nailor] as well on the high cross, but just trusting Jets to beat his man but also beat the safety," Darnold said. "I just tried to put it out there for him and obviously he got it and did the rest."

Jefferson added, "We practice that play time and time again. We didn't practice it being on the 3-yard line and us going 97, but it was just a great, great ball by Sam to really trust the double team and for me to run right through it. It's been time and time again where we practice these plays, and we've just got to go out and execute them."

The catch was one of four on the day for Jefferson, who totaled 133 yards on the day before leaving the game due to a quad injury, which he told reporters after the game was not serious.

Third downs need work

The numbers weren't good on third down for the 49ers on Sunday, as they allowed the Vikings to convert seven of 12 third downs while converting only two of 10 themselves.

The 49ers converted six of 13 third downs in their Week 1 win over the Jets, while giving up conversions on six of 10 third downs. So it's a problem the 49ers are already well aware of, and it played a significant role in their problems against the Vikings on Sunday.

"That's why we have a whole day based on third down," defensive end Nick Bosa said. "It's how this league is. We failed."

Quarterback Brock Purdy, who finished with 319 yards, one touchdown and one interception on 28-of-36 passing, gave credit to the Vikings for giving the 49ers some tough looks on defense while also putting the blame on himself for not doing more.

"It's tough when first or second down aren't positive plays and, you know, just trying to move the ball and then you've got to rely on third down with their scheme and obviously their disguises and stuff," Purdy said. "It can be tough. And they just did a good job with making it look like one thing and it was another and different types of blitzes and stuff, or just dropping out. So they did a lot, and that's just on us. It's on me to move the ball, be efficient on first and second down and get us in third and manageable and then convert on third down."

The failures on third down as well as the team going just one of three on fourth down will undoubtedly be a focus for the 49ers in the days ahead.

"It was a challenge today, and we can do better," Shanahan said.

Missing Christian McCaffrey

The 49ers have gotten two consecutive quality games from running back Jordan Mason, who followed up his 147-yard/one touchdown breakout performance against the Jets with 100 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries against the Vikings. But there's no doubt they miss the reigning Offensive Player of the Year in McCaffrey, who gives defenses a lot more to worry about when he's in the lineup.

"Christian is the offensive MVP for a reason," Kittle said Sunday. "He was in the MVP voting for a reason. He had 20-plus touchdowns for a reason. Because he does it all in the pass game, in the run game. It's really fun because it's like having Deebo [wide receiver Deebo Samuel] and him (is) just interchangeable. Like, you'll have Christian running routes and then all of a sudden you put a Mike linebacker on him and Deebo's in the backfield. You have no idea what you're going to get. So it just gives us another dimension."

McCaffrey may be out for several weeks as he deals with Achilles tendonitis, and it will continue to be challenge for the 49ers to overcome his absence as long as he remains out.

"He didn't do OTAs. He didn't do really much of training camp. He was still voted a captain," Kittle said of McCaffrey. "So, like, there's the impact that you guys can see. He has an incredible impact on this team. You know, just him being around, he boosts everyone's confidence. But, I mean, I still think we could have (won Sunday). We won last week. I think we had opportunities to find a way to win today, and we just didn't. But, yeah, it's just, there's things we can't do without Christian."

Purdy, Aiyuk still looking to get going

The 49ers have had players who have missed the preseason get off to slow starts in previous years, so it doesn't come as a big surprise that wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk hasn't made a big splash as of yet after missing training camp and the preseason due to a contract dispute.

Aiyuk had four catches for 43 yards on Sunday, giving him six catches for 71 yards on the season. Aiyuk, who is coming off a career-best season of 1,342 yards on 75 catches with seven touchdowns, hasn't put together any major highlights as of yet in 2024, but Purdy told reporters Sunday it isn't because he is showing any signs of not being the player he was in previous seasons.

"I think he looks pretty good and stuff, but I'm not dropping back going 'BA is not like what he's been like.' I don't think that at all," Purdy said. "I think for me, I just try to go through my reads and he's been where he where he needs to be. And, you know, there's probably a couple routes maybe in certain looks where we both could have been better on some stuff, but that's just like early in the season stuff, if you ask me. I know that we'll continue to get better together in our connection and everything, but for four quarters, man, I thought BA grinded and went and competed, and I'm proud of him for that."

Big moment before halftime

While much of the postgame focus on the 49ers side was on other moments from Sunday's game, Darnold made note of an important drive that didn't get as much attention -- the eight-play, 49-yard drive by the Vikings right before halftime that allowed them to kick a late second quarter field goal that gave them a 13-7 lead.

Why was that so important? The 49ers had just scored a touchdown on the previous possession, giving them some momentum while cutting the lead to 10-7. The former 49er Darnold knew from experience that it wouldn't have been a good idea to let the 49ers carry that momentum into halftime.

"That was huge," Darnold said. "I saw it firsthand the entire year last year how much momentum that team on the other side, the Niners, get when they score at the end of the half. We were getting the ball in the second half, but that momentum can kind of carry that team to a win most of the time. For us to be able to get a good two-minute drive there at the end of the half was big-time for us."

The 49ers were complimentary after the game of Darnold, who finished with 268 yards, two touchdowns and one interception on 17-of-26 passing along with 32 yards rushing on five carries.

"We knew we were up for a challenge," Shanahan said. "Sam is a hell of a quarterback. He's got a lot of arm talent. And we also knew just scrambling wise was going to be a different challenge today. And he got us in a couple scrambles too that he's done that his whole career and he's done in college, and we knew we had a challenge with him."

Cornerback Charvarius Ward said of Darnold, "He played good. We gave him a bunch of things that they shouldn't have had, but he's a good quarterback."