NFC West Week One Review - Part 2

Article by Rob Newell

 

Week One is in the books following the matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings and we are now well and truly back to Football.

After the off-season that has been talked about by everybody as the worst in NFL history, if any team earns the right to debut a new black uniform it was the 49ers, and following this game (and yes it is dangerous to draw conclusions from just one game) reports suggesting the demise of the 49ers were very much exaggerated. 

For weeks now, we have heard about how the Vikings were the trendy pick for at least a Wildcard pick in the NFC this season, maybe more following the injury to Jordy Nelson in Green Bay and this game was supposed to be the first step on the returning Adrian Peterson’s road to redemption, which according to him at least was supposed to be at least 2,500 yards long.

 

The Niners had their own returning star to welcome back, in Navarro Bowman.  His last game was the infamous Richard Sherman game in the 2013 NFC Championship, and judging by this game and the preseason evidence Bowman is back to full health, and may just be the best inside linebacker in the league, finally good news for the 49ers faithful.  However the early blocked field goal was certainly not good news for San Francisco, and had most Niners wondering just what else would/could go wrong?

As it turned out the answer to that question on this night, would be very little!  The final score of 20-3 to the Niners I would imagine have garnered you fairly long odds before kick off.  But that is how it played out, and despite some flashes from the so called purple Jesus, included one run which took what felt like the entire Niners defence to stop, the best running back on the field was wearing black.

Carlos Hyde showed that the decision to let franchise legend Frank Gore move on, may have been perfectly timed as he torched the Vikings for 168 yards and showed that he could just be the every down back that teams love.  However it was on the defence that people believed the Niners would be crippled, but this is far from the truth as Bowman led a Niners defensive effort that saw them swarming to the ball.   Antoine Bethea was everywhere, including getting away with what looked like a clear pass interference infraction, but in a more positive light was making tackles all over the field.

Aaron Lynch was another standout performer, the 2^nd year man was bringing pressure to Teddy Bridgwater all night long, trying to find the replacement to Aldon Smith.  Credit must go to Eric Mangini, the Defensive Coordinator for San Francisco, who found ways to generate pressure that kept the Vikings guessing.

It's taken this long but I ought to mention Colin Kaepernick, who did not rack up the numbers in part to the success of Hyde, but you could see evidence of confidence and leadership in the QB.  He caught the Vikings offside with some hard counts and although not looking to run first himself, Kaepernick did show a willingness to tuck the ball and run himself where opportunity presented itself.  In so doing Kaepernick did take a couple of big hits especially from Harrison Smith, but Kaepernick bounced straight up and called the next play.  He even found himself lead blocking for his running back on one TD run.

 

The Vikings will be better than this as the season goes along, and if they can work AP back in to Norv Turner’s offence, they could still be a potential playoff team, the Niners showed that predictions of 3-13 etc… are perhaps a little on the low side, they will be looking for at least a .500 record if not better.  If their number 28 can continue to play like this and not put in a Jekyl performance instead, then the NFL has found a new star.