There wasn’t much that went right for the 49ers in their Week 7 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings. The 22-17 final was a mess from the jump as the Vikings led wire-to-wire to give San Francisco its second consecutive loss.
Pinpointing one bad thing isn’t particularly easy though, so we picked out the four most disappointing parts of a second uninspiring loss in a row for the 49ers:
Pass rush
The 49ers built their defense around a dominant pass rush. That unit didn’t sack Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins despite him putting the ball up 45 times. They managed to notch six QB hits, but he was never particularly uncomfortable. A lack of pass rush up front forced some additional blitzing from defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and the results were disastrous. This is a team thats foundation is built on its defensive front affecting quarterbacks. When it doesn’t, the wheels fall off like we saw Monday night when Minnesota when 8-of-13 on third down, punted only once, and averaged 6.8 yards per play.
Brock Purdy's fourth quarter
Purdy was good for most of Monday night. Through three quarters he was cruising at 16-of-19 for 214 yards and a touchdown. The fourth quarter, when San Francisco needed its quarterback to make a couple of big plays, was a disaster. Purdy went 5-of-11 in the final 15 minutes for 58 yards with two interceptions. It was the exact scenario the 49ers would love to see the QB come through in, and he just didn’t have enough in Minnesota. It was enough to raise the question of whether Purdy is a player they can trust in key spots, particularly come playoff time.
Brandon Aiyuk's second half
It looked like a big Aiyuk game was coming with Deebo Samuel out because of a shoulder injury. Aiyuk came up with five catches on all five of his targets for 57 yards. Then the second half began and the Vikings made an adjustment to bracket Aiyuk and the receiver earned one target over the final two quarters. He didn’t record another catch and ended the game with the same five catches and 57 yards he entered halftime with. The 49ers needed to find ways to get Aiyuk the ball in the second half and they weren’t able to. Making a comeback with only Ray-Ray McCloud and Jauan Jennings as options at wide receiver is much more daunting than making a comeback where Aiyuk is involved.
Run game
For the second consecutive week the 49ers couldn’t find much room on the ground. Part of that is surely due to Trent Williams’ Week 6 injury that compromised him in Cleveland and forced him to miss Week 7 in Minnesota. On Monday night the 49ers ran it 22 times for only 65 yards. Eliminate the 17-yard Purdy scramble and San Francisco managed 48 yards on 21 attempts. Christian McCaffrey’s longest carry went for nine yards. George Kittle’s only attempt was a two-yard run. Elijah Mitchell’s lone carry lost a yard. This is something San Francisco has to figure out if it wants to get its offense back on track, because averaging fewer than 4.0 yards per carry isn’t going to cut it.
