What we learned about the 49ers in Week 2: Brock Purdy experiences Deja Vu

The most uncomfortable I’ve ever felt watching television was the story of Ramsey Bolton slowly transforming Theon Greyjoy into Reek in Game of Thrones. That was until the San Francisco 49ers Week 2 performance against the Minnesota Vikings.

The 49ers’ lackluster and unmotivated performance on Sunday, when they were held to 17 points against the Vikings for the second year in a row, caused Sunday’s 23-17 loss. After being San Francisco’s backup last season, Sam Darnold outperformed Brock Purdy for the Vikings’ eighth consecutive home win against the 49ers.

Not much good came out of this game for the 49ers, so let’s review it:

The worst play you could have possibly imagined happened

Sam Darnold started one game for the 49ers in 2023, resulting in a Week 18 loss. When the Vikings signed Darnold over the offseason with the plan for him to be the starter, it was met with some ridicule from the 49ers fanbase.

Darnold got the last laugh on Sunday, throwing for 268 yards and a pair of touchdowns with an interception en route to the win. But let’s talk about the one play that will haunt 49ers fans for the foreseeable future.

You know what play I’m talking about.

Purdy and the 49ers failed to score at the Minnesota two-yard line, setting the San Francisco defense up to make a play with the Vikings’ offense backed up. The defense respectfully declined the opportunity, allowing the 97-yard touchdown to put Minnesota up two scores.

In a way, it was reminiscent of Jordan Addison’s touchdown right before the half when the two teams met last season, but much worse. Both 49ers’ safeties looked foolish, getting burned on the route by Justin Jefferson and then allowing the receiver to reverse field to finish the score. The cherry on top was Darnold dropping the ball in without Jefferson breaking stride.

The early haymaker from Minnesota rocked the 49ers to the point where it’s fair to question if they ever fully recovered from it.

Anything you can do, I can do worse

Dallas Turner made the first special teams mistake on Minnesota’s opening drive of the game. A Ryan Wright punt took a friendly Minnesota bounce that Turner should have downed at the San Francisco 1-yard-line. However, Turner allowed his momentum to carry his body weight just enough to step on the goal line for a touchback. It was an innocent mistake, but a 20-yard mistake nonetheless.

San Francisco wasted no time in their attempt to one-up Turner’s mistake.

The 49ers’ ensuing drive would last only four plays before facing a fourth down. Mitch Wishnowsky’s punt was blocked by CJ Ham, and Theo Jackson was diving on the loose ball. Wishowsky so politely avoided the diving Jackson, allowing the not-touched Jackson to lay on the ground for a second before getting back up and returning the ball 15 yards deep into San Francisco territory. The 49ers’ defense held the Minnesota offense to three points after the special teams gaff.

Midway through the third quarter, with San Francisco trailing by a score, the 49ers caught a massive special teams break that the offense wasted. Rookie return man Jacob Cowing was back to return another Wright punt but muffed it, putting the ball on the ground. After it seemed every Vikings player on the field got a chance to recover, Isaac Yiadom found himself on the ball, avoiding disaster.

Two plays later, Purdy ensured disaster, forcing a pass to Kyle Juszcyzk that was tipped and intercepted by Joshua Metellus. Darnold would find a wide-open Jalen Nailor on the next play for what proved to be a game-winning touchdown.

After Jake Moody’s six-field goal game in Week 1, the bad San Francisco special teams unit reared its ugly head again, adding to the mess that was Sunday’s performance.

Minnesota did it against somebody other than the Giants’ offense

I fell into the trap where I discounted almost all of Minnesota’s defensive achievements last week because of who the opponent was. Then the Minnesota defense made the San Francisco offense look like the Giants offense.

After two interceptions and five sacks against Daniel Jones in Week 1, the Vikings forced two Purdy turnovers while sacking the quarterback six times on Sunday. Jordan Mason had another good game on the ground – 100 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown – but despite 319 yards passing, it never felt like Purdy had a comfortable throw.

This is the second year in a row the Brian Flores-led Vikings defense has held Purdy and the 49ers to 17 points, but Sunday’s dominance differed from last year. Minnesota won in 2023 with ball control, running 13 more plays and holding onto the ball for ten more minutes. On Sunday, San Francisco ran 13 more plays than Minnesota and had the ball for 10 more minutes. The 49ers offense didn’t do itself many favors, with consecutive drives in the first half ending in Minnesota territory with zero points.

The offense started to gel late, ending the game with a 99-yard and a 57-yard drive, but it proved too little too late. It’s just one game early in the season, but Sunday raised some red flags on the 49ers offense.

Fred Warner appreciation

It wasn’t all bad for the 49ers – Mason had a 100-yard game, and Nick Bosa had a pair of sacks – but no player had a better game than Fred Warner. It’s not often that one player can impact a game like Warner did, but Sunday’s loss would have been much worse without the superstar linebacker.

Warner put his stamp on the game early, with Minnesota facing a third down on its opening drive. Darnold tried to find Aaron Jones in the middle of the field, but a diving Warner got his hand on the ball to force an incompletion, a play few linebackers can make.

Later in the first half, with the Vikings threatening to go up three scores before the half, Darnold planted his backfoot at the 29-yard-line and fired a pass to Trent Sherfield. Warner wasn’t spotted in coverage underneath Sherfield, lunging to clog the passing lane and intercepting the pass, abruptly ending the Vikings’ drive. Instead of a three-possession Vikings lead, the Warner interception led to a 49ers touchdown-scoring drive, cutting the lead to three for the time being.

Minnesota came within a couple of yards of putting the game away near the end of the third quarter, but again, Warner made a play to keep the 49ers alive. Aaron Jones took a screen pass near the red zone with nothing but green grass in front of him. Jones gladly obliged to the space the 49ers defense allowed him, galloping untouched, looking for the end zone. With Warner the only thing between Jones and the score, the All-Pro punched the ball out at the 2-yard-line, with Yiadom again finding the ball on the ground to stop the Minnesota drive just short of paydirt.

Warner filled the stat sheet with nine tackles (seven solo), one sack, one tackle for loss, two pass deflections, two quarterback hits, a forced fumble, and an interception. It was a rough watch on Sunday, but Warner made it only slightly more bearable.