What Worries Kyle Shanahan About the Vikings

SANTA CLARA -- Most people expect the 49ers to blow out the Vikings on Monday night.

Head coaches aren't most people, though. And even though the 49ers are the overwhelming favorites to win, there's always something about the opposition that keeps the head coach up at night.

On Saturday, I asked Kyle Shanahan what keeps him up at night about the Vikings. Here's what he said:

ME: What's one thing about the Vikings that keeps you up?

“I never can answer one thing, but from an offense perspective, any team who does blitzes as much as them, you just can't always relax. There's never a safe time to call a play. You’ve got to make sure it's got answers versus everything. They’ve got a real good kick returner who's coming back and they’ve got a real good quarterback and a real good tight end. So, I'd say those are the first things that come to mind.”

Q: I've heard you talk about just the consistency of Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, and I think I heard you use the term automatic. What does that mean exactly?

“It means when there's something prepared for, something you've talked about. ‘Hey, they run this coverage, we're doing this play for that coverage.’ When it's something like that and he gets the look that something he's prepared for, he's going to see it every time and he's going to make the throw. It's those type of guys who are like that are guys you can't let them get comfortable. They know where to go with the ball, it's very hard. They can recognize all the coverages that you do and then they're extremely accurate and stuff if they have room in that pocket to get the ball wherever it needs to go. That's why those are the guys that you’ve got to make sure you make them uncomfortable in a lot of different ways.”