49ers grades in frustrating Week 2 loss vs. Vikings

MINNEAPOLIS — Yes, the 49ers played poorly on Sunday.

But for every bad play on the 49ers’ side, the Minnesota Vikings did exactly what they wanted.

“They (the Vikings) played really well, but it was too sloppy on our part,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said following the 49ers’ 23-17 loss to the Vikings on Sunday in Week 2 of the NFL season.

The 49ers made key errors in every phase of the game. They could not get things going on offense, they had a punt blocked and the defense gave up the longest play in franchise history.

It all added up to another road loss to the Vikings, who now have beaten the 49ers eight consecutive times in Minnesota over a span of 30 years. The 49ers’ last win as a visiting team against the Vikings was in 1992.

Here is the report card from the 49ers’ loss, which drops them to 1-1 on the season:

Rushing offense

The 49ers’ run game is going through a major transition with Christian McCaffrey out for at least the first five games of the season.

But his backup, Jordan Mason, was one of the few bright spots in this game. Mason made his second NFL start, and he had his second 100-yard rushing game. He gained 100 yards and a touchdown on 20 rushing attempts.

Quarterback Brock Purdy scrambled twice for 12 yards and was the 49ers’ second-leading rusher. 

Grade: C-minus

Passing offense

Purdy’s stat sheet ends up not looking all that bad coming out of this game. He completed 28 of 36 pass attempts for 319 yards with one touchdown and one interception. But Purdy also lost a fumble when the ball slipped out of his hand as he was throwing.

The passing game struggled as the 49ers were just 2 of 10 on third downs and 1 of 3 on fourth downs.

When the 49ers had to start throwing to try to dig themselves out of a hole, the Vikings fired up their pass rush. Purdy was sacked six times for 22 yards, and even All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams was not immune to the less-than-ideal play.

Deebo Samuel had a productive day with eight catches for 110 yards. George Kittle added seven receptions for 76 yards.

Brandon Aiyuk had four catches for 43 yards as he continues to knock off the rust from an offseason in which he did not practice with his teammates.

Grade: D

Rushing defense

The 49ers set the goal of stopping the run in an effort to make the opposition one-dimensional. They did not do that on Sunday, as the Vikings rushed for 146 yards on 24 rushing attempts for a 6.1-yard average.

Backup running back Ty Chandler gained 82 yards on 10 rushing attempts. Aaron Jones had 32 yards on nine rushing attempts.

The Vikings also got some big yards from quarterback Sam Darnold, who scrambled three times for 34 yards (before two late-game kneel-downs).

Grade: D-minus

Passing defense

Linebacker Fred Warner generated two takeaways in the passing game with an interception and a forced fumble on a pass play. Those two plays keep this grade from being a big, fat “F.”

Other than that, the 49ers really struggled to get off the field. The Vikings converted 7 of 12 (58.3 percent) on third downs. 

Darnold had a big game with 268 yards passing, including a 97-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson against the coverage of safeties George Odum and Ji’Ayir Brown to beat a blitz.

Darnold tossed another touchdown to Jalen Nailor on a play in which Charvarius Ward sold out to stop what he thought would be a run play.

Grade: D-minus

Special teams

The first big play of the game came on special teams, when the 49ers blew an assignment on the right side that allowed C.J. Ham to break through to block Mitch Wishnowsky’s punt.

The Vikings ended up breaking a scoreless time a few plays later with a field goal.

The 49ers had only one kickoff return in the game, and that drive began at the 10-yard line when Samuel only reached the 20-yard line and Renardo Green’s penalty set the field position back 10 yards.

Things could have gone even worse for special teams when rookie Jacob Cowing muffed a punt. Isaac Yiadom ended up with the ball after a mad scramble.

Grade: F

Coaching

Coach Kyle Shanahan went for it on fourth down three times in the first half after only doing it 13 times all of last season.

The 49ers were 1-for-3 on those fourth-down attempts, so two of those moves — all reasonable decisions — backfired. Shanahan said two of those calls were made because they were just out of field-goal range.

San Francisco also went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 2. Shanahan said he knew that even if the 49ers failed, they would have the Vikings pinned deep in their own territory. But the Vikings made the 49ers pay with Darnold’s 97-yard touchdown pass to Jefferson.

In other words, whatever the 49ers tried on Sunday, it did not work.

Grade: D

Overall

This was a team effort.

No facet of the 49ers played well enough to win this game. The loss was a complete team effort.

Grade: D-minus

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