The season opener for the Vikings saw the San Francisco 49ers under Jimmy Garappolo visit Minneapolis to face the revamped Vikings offence under $84 million quarterback Kirk Cousins. This was also supposed to be a return visit for former Vikings running back Jerick “Jet” McKinnon, but he suffered a season-ending ACL injury during one of San Francisco’s final practices and had to be put on injured reserve.
The first half certainly looked like Minnesota was going to just walk away with the game, as Kirk Cousins put up great numbers in his first Viking start and the Vikings defence looked like they hadn’t missed a beat since last season. During the second half, however, San Francisco managed to stay close and even threatened to even up the score late in the game. At one point in the second half, the Minnesota offence only managed three consecutive three-and-outs, which meant the defence was spending too much time on the field. Rookie cornerback Mike Hughes saw his first NFL action, including his first interception which he ran back for his first touchdown. Hughes got more snaps than the coaches originally may have intended after starter Trae Waynes had to leave the game with a knee injury (nickel corner Mackenzie Alexander was ruled out before the game started). The defensive star of the game was safety Harrison Smith, with eight tackles (including two for loss), a sack, a fumble recovery and the game-sealing interception.
At the Daily Norseman, Ted Glover provides his regular Stock Market Report on the game, including his buy/sell recommendations:
Buy: Going for points at the end of the first half. I really liked the aggressiveness to get some points at the end of the half. After the fumble recovery, Minnesota had the ball on their 2, with 2:12 left. It would have been easy to maybe play for a first down, run out the clock, and go to the locker room with a 10-3 lead. But the Vikings got aggressive and pushed the ball upfield, and lo and behold, with 42 second left they were near midfield with a timeout left, and a real opportunity to get in to field goal range, at a minimum.
Sell: The last three plays of the drive to end the first half. Then I don’t know what happened. Well, I do, but it was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Or a Tarvaris Jackson sequence, your call. The Vikings threw a pass to Dalvin Cook that lost six yards thanks to Cook taking nothing and making it worse. Then instead of calling a timeout, Minnesota chose to run a play…which was a downfield heave of two yards to Laquon Treadwell. After a timeout, the offense, wanting to REALLY out do themselves, said ‘hold my beer’ and Cousins took a sack to end the half. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT……
Buy: Dalvin Cook, pass catcher. The Vikings fed Dalvin Cook early and often, and when he got the ball in the flat it looked like he had never been injured. He was fast, fluid, and made some great plays on the edge, catching six passes for 55 yards. In the game, only Adam Thielen was targeted more in the passing game, and it was a nice debut for him coming off his ACL injury.
Sell: Dalvin Cook, runner. As good as he looked catching the ball, he didn’t have a good day running. He averaged less than three yards a carry, and on his longest run of the day, a 15 yard duck, stop, and then go, he fumbled and Dicky Sherman recovered. His offensive line didn’t help him a whole lot, though, so hopefully this aspect will improve as the season goes along.
Buy: The goal line stand and fumble. That was a thing of beauty, and straight out of the Purple People Eaters era. They stuffed the 49ers running game four times, and on the last attempt they forced a fumble and recovered the ball, dodging a major bullet and leaving the 49ers going ‘we went 14 plays for this’? YES YOU DID…YES YOU DID BRETT!
Sell: The 13 plays preceding that fumble. But that drive that got San Francisco on the doorstep was a bit troublesome. They converted three first downs, and the Vikings committed a defensive holding penalty on second down that nullified a big sack by Danielle Hunter. They gave up plays of 14, 14, and 11 yards, and it felt like the 49ers had figured out what the Vikings were doing.
