Photo credit: @49ers

By: Joe Lami

Jimmy Garoppolo is no longer undefeated as a starter in the NFL, as the Minnesota Vikings outlasted the Niners 24-16.

Injuries, missed opportunities, bad timing, and turnovers from the 49ers assisted Kirk Cousins in his Viking’s debut. Minnesota’s new quarterback went 20-of-35 for 244 yards and two touchdowns.

He found success with Minnesota’s most dangerous targets, Adam Thielen and Dalvin Cook with each of them bringing down six catches. Thielen finished the day with 201 yards receiving, while Cook had 55 yards catching out of the backfield

Stefon Diggs and Kyle Rudolph each caught a touchdown. ‘

The 49ers are prepared to go into scramble mode thanks to injuries with several key pieces going down, including Marquise Goodwin, Joshua Garnett, and Mike Person.

Person and Garnett both went down with foot injuries, while Garnett’s appeared to be extremely serious needing a cart to assist him off the field from a non-contact play.

Goodwin attempted to return from his quad injury for the entirety of the game, as he was seen jogging and warming up on the sideline numerous times. Fortunately, the injury to Garcon seems to be the least severe of the three.

The Niners also missed opportunities the entire game. Pierre Garcon and George Kittle both had critical drops that would’ve led to touchdowns. Garcon was in the end zone, while Kittle’s was on a deep ball down the left sideline.

The drop ended up costing the Niners immediately, as Garoppolo threw his first of three interceptions. Rookie, Mike Hughes will remember his first interception for a long time, making a great play on the ball and jumping a Kenrick Bourne route for a pick 6 extending Minnesota’s lead to 17-3.

Earlier in the game, the Niners put together an eight-minute drive but once again the red zone offense completely shut down, eventually fumbling the ball on the one and giving the Vikings all of the momentum.

Despite everything that went wrong for the 49ers, they still hung in there until the very end. That is until Garoppolo started throwing interceptions, marking the first time in his career he’s thrown three in the same game. It just also happens to be his first loss as a starter.

San Francisco did have a few bright spots in all of the darkness. Tight end, George Kittle had five catches for 90 yards, though he’ll be remembered in this one for the wide-open drop.

Deforest Buckner appears to be an absolute beast in the pass rush. He was able to get to Cousin’s 2.5 times for sacks while recording 3 tackles for loss and seven total tackles.

Third round draft pick, Fred Warner not only was named a starter, but the linebacker was incredible. Having one of the best games out of any rookie, Warner started hot for the 49ers. In the first 20 minutes of the game, he recorded seven tackles and a forced fumble that Richard Sherman eventually fell on. He finished with 12 combined tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass deflection, and a forced fumble.

Sunday was a great measuring stick for the 49ers. Going up against one of the best defenses in the league and a team that made it to the conference championship game last year proves what this team is all about.

Kyle Shanahan was not kidding when he said that this team can go out and have a legit chance to win any game they play this season. We’ll see if they can finally strike gold at Levi’s next Sunday against the Lions at 1:05 pm PDT.