Minnesota Vikings: Everything was ugly, Vikings lose opener to 49ers
Well, that wasn’t the way anyone thought game one would go for the Minnesota Vikings. In a game where most though the Vikings would win fairly easily, they did nothing real positive and the San Francisco 49ers were the ones rolling to a 20-3 victory late on Monday night.
The Vikings blocked a punt and a kick, but could never get the offense going. Teddy Bridgewater didn’t have a great game, but his offensive line, which is patch-worked, let Bridgewater get sacked five times in the game. Bridgewater went 23/32 with 231 yards with no TDs and a pick.
Adrian Peterson’s usage was head scratching to say the least. Peterson only received ten carries in the game for 31 yards. Peterson did catch three passes and adding Peterson to the passing game would be an interesting wrinkle, but the wrinkle didn’t really add much on Monday night.
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The game Peterson should have had was had on the other side of the field. Niners running back Carlos Hyde had himself a game with two touchdowns with 168 yards on 26 carries. That’s what Peterson should have been doing.
Colin Kaepernick went 17/26 for 165 yards in the air and ran for 41 yards on the ground in the game.
Mike Wallace did catch six balls, but had a long of only 19. Kyle Rudolph caught five. The freshly extended caught only one ball on four targets, but for the largest gain for the Vikings of 27. Charles Johnson was only targeted three times and had two catches.
Blair Walsh went 1 for 2 in field goal attempts. Even the 37-yarder that Walsh did make in the fourth quarter was a very ugly looking field goal by barely squeaking by the right upright.
The whole game really was ugly. The Vikings had opportunities to put up a good amount of points off turnovers in the first half, but did nothing. The turnovers hurt San Francisco who were putting up good yards, but could never get their offense fully going either. That’s a good thing for the Vikings because the defense did nothing special for Minnesota on Monday.
Well, at least the Twins won.
Next: Game-by-game preview of the Vikings regular season!