Vikings vs. 49ers: Game Preview and Prediction
Playoff football has officially commenced for the San Francisco 49ers as they renew their “Quest for Six” campaign.
It all starts today when the 49ers take on the surging Minnesota Vikings in a divisional playoff showdown at Levi’s Stadium. This was a showdown that no one had foretold. Entering wild card weekend, the consensus was that the Seattle Seahawks would be the team coming to Santa Clara since winning in New Orleans would be impossible for the Vikings. Well for the second time in a three year span, Minnesota stuns the Saints.
Now the Vikings will look to stun the football world for a second consecutive week by stumping the 49ers. On paper, the 49ers look to be the clear favorites. That might be why Las Vegas has them as a -7 favorite. However, football games are not won by standalone talent, especially considering the situation the Vikings are in.
By beating the Saints, the Vikings are in a stage where they shouldn’t have been. They were supposed to lose last weekend, so now they’re playing with house money. That factor alone makes them dangerous because they have nothing to lose. A team with nothing to lose goes the extra mile and will throw the kitchen sink at the opposition. The 49ers will need to be ready for any and everything. But first and foremost, they must bottle up running back Dalvin Cook.
He is essentially the key for the 49ers to win today. Of course, the Niners' offense will need to show up and hold up their end as well. But the main key to victory is slowing Cook down. If he is kept in check for the bulk of the game, then Kirk Cousins will need to shoulder the burden of the offense. That is not something the Vikings want to endure.
Having Cousins drop back a ton is out of their comfort zone and will also give the 49ers’ pass rushers plenty of opportunities to get after him. At that point, Cousins will struggle even with Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. However, none of that matters if San Francisco cannot contain Cook. They have the players for it and the overall team speed, which is the tipping point that favors the 49ers defense.
Minnesota loves to call stretch run plays with Cook, so one way to counteract that is with speed. The linebackers of the 49ers are arguably the fastest in all of football. Not to mention the defensive line is quick and aggressive, so they can manage to set the edge to try to force Cook inside. Being successful against the run will start to get Minnesota to panic and set the 49ers up nicely for the game.
There is one cause for concern with the 49ers’ ability to stop Cook. It is that the Vikings are just as good designing play-actions like the 49ers. That stems from the Gary Kubiak connection since Kyle Shanahan is apart of his tutelage. Play-action is something the defense needs to wary about.
Cover-3 is the 49ers’ main style of coverage, so the Vikings can gash the 49ers in the middle by getting the safeties and cornerbacks to follow receivers on clear-out routes. Play-action is certainly going to be apart of Minnesota’s gameplan. It’ll also act as a strong deterrent against the pass rush, which is what the Rams did against the 49ers in week 16. Jared Goff went unscathed in that game.
The Vikings are sure to make note of that, especially since Cousins’ mobility is as limited as Goff’s. If that becomes an issue, then Robert Saleh will need to put on his thinking cap to adjust and adapt. This game can go down many paths, but the one that seems the most likely will be the 49ers' defense holding up well against both Cook and Cousins.
As for the offensive side of the ball, so long as Jimmy Garoppolo is not getting abused on every drop back, then the offense should be able to put up points against a severely lacking cornerback position. San Francisco wins this matchup to host the NFC title game for the first time at Levi’s stadium and first time since 2011.
Final score: Vikings 21 49ers 28
