Minnesota Vikings stun San Francisco 49ers 24-13 – NFL Recap
San Francisco 49ers defence faced a better, improved and relatively tougher offence from Minnesota Vikings, who surprisingly won Week 3 game, 24-13, on Sunday, September 23, at Mall of America Field.
Quarterback Christian Ponder sent two touchdown passes to play a crucial role in his team’s victory over one of the best opponents in the league. Ponder completed 21 passes of 35 attempts for 198 yards.
The quarterback said after the win:
“It's big, more for people outside this organization than us. We're already confident in what we can do.”
49ers defence, which is otherwise pretty sturdy, failed to control Vikings offence, which started accelerating right from the first play of the game.
Vikings got the first scoring move of the game in form of a touchdown as Ponder found Kyle Rudolph in the end zone in the first quarter.
49ers got their first scoring move of the game in the second quarter when they scored a field goal, which was followed by a touchdown and a field goal from Vikings.
49ers offence finally found its rhythm in the third quarter in which Vikings could not provide any scoring move. 49ers got a field goal, while quarterback Alex Smith and tight end Vernon Davis connected for a touchdown, reducing the lead to four points only.
However, 49ers could not overcome that deficit in the final quarter and Vikings further increased their lead early in the quarter by scoring a touchdown.
Smith was unable to provide any scoring opportunity in the final quarter as 49ers lost their first game of the season.
The 49ers quarterback completed 24 of his 35 passes for 204 yards and got one touchdown. Smith also sent an interception, after a very long time.
49ers wide receiver Randy Moss, who started his National Football League (NFL) career with Vikings, said of his former team:
"I know the Vikings have always played teams tough, especially when they're an underdog. That's Minnesota football.”
The game was an eye-opener for 49ers, who defeated Green Bay Packers in the season opener while dominating Detroit Lions in Week 2.
Their offence and defence need to learn a lot from this game and given that the structure of the National Football Conference (NFC) West is becoming more and more competitive every week, 49ers must bounce back in the next game.
Arizona Cardinals have got off to a 3-0 start and are currently leading the NFC West, while 49ers are at second position.
49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh said after the game:
“There’s going to be good, there’s going to be bad. Today was a bad day. We will not sulk a bit, complain a bit, can’t complain, point fingers, just have to suck it up and we’ll do that.”
49ers are now going to face New York Jets in Week 4 while Vikings will take on Lions.
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