49ERS HUMBLED BY VIKINGS 24-13

 

         By

         Scary

    Barry 

      Rodriguez

                                     September 23, 2012 

  

Mall of America field, Minneapolis , MN- Sunday a funeral for the San Francisco 49er's expectations was held at the Mall of America field. The Minnesota Vikings didn't buy into the media hype and exposed some of the Niner's weaknesses , the offensive line and the inability of the defense to sack opposing quarterbacks. From the very start of the game Viking QB Christian Ponder was able to move the ball against the 49er's highly touted defense , scoring on a short TD pass to Kyle Rudolph . When the Niners were on the offense QB Alex Smith took a pounding. The Viking's defense used stunts to confuse the offensive line that resulted in rushers coming right up the middle in Alex Smith's face.

In the second quarter things didn't improve for San Francisco much. Early in the quarter David Akers booted a 29 yard field goal to put the Niners on the scoreboard , otherwise the offense was held in check. The Vikings scored another touchdown when Ponder rumbled right up the middle from 23 yards out. Time and again the 49er defense covered receivers but had lapses in containment. Then David Aker's 43 yard field goal attempt was blocked by the Viking's Letroy Guion and the game started to get out of control for the Niners. Just before half time Minnesota scored again on a 52 yard field goal to put the score at Vikings 17 to the 49er's 3. Being behind would be a problem for the Jim Harbaugh's run first strategy.

At the start of the second half Kyle Williams returned the kickoff to the Viking's 14 yard line after a run of 94 yards. The Niners couldn't put the ball in the end zone , due to a delay of game penalty and had to settle for a 29 yard field goal by David Akers. Later in the quarter Alex Smith hooked up with Vernon Davis for a 1 yard scoring pass , the 49er's only touchdown of the game. After this it would just be a example of futility on both sides of the ball for the San Francisco 49ers. The Vikings went on another long drive that was maintained by two unnecessary roughness and one holding penalty on the Niner's defensive unit. Throughout the game the 49ers beat themselves with errors.

The Vikings scored at the start of the fourth quarter as a result of their long drive , which culminated in a 2 yard touchdown pass from Ponder to Kyle Rudolph , his second of the game. This put the score at 24 to 13 in favor of Minnesota. The rest of the quarter was punctuated by Niner miscues including two fumbles lost and a interception with 2:18 left on the game clock when the Viking's Robinson picked off a pass intended for Michael Crabtree.

To sum things up the San Francisco 49ers played a very sloppy game against a Vikings team that they were picked to beat ! This writer had questions concerning the ability of the Niners to handle playing catchup in a game. The Vikings put a monkey wrench in coach Jim Harbaugh's clock eating ball control game plan ! Minnesota defensive standout LB Chad Greenway sacked Alex Smith two times and was all over the field . The 49ers displayed some sloppy tackling and made Viking QB Christian Ponder look like Jim Brown on his 23 yard touchdown run that went right up the middle. Where was the pass rush ? It was missing in action. Take heart Niner fans. This isn't the end just a speed bump on the way to another NFC west division title. A word to the wise for coach Harbaugh from the Scary one. Think plan B ! The Vikings used your own clock eating game plan against your team. The usually stout defense committed six penalties in frustration because the offense was three and out for almost the whole game. Maybe try a no huddle drive ! The Bill Parcells approach belongs to a bygone era. Sometimes the offense has to open up !

Note: This article is dedicated to the 47 % of the country that Mitt Romney doesn't care about . We all just want to sponge off the government !