49ers news: Instant reaction to the 23-17 loss to the Vikings

The San Francisco 49ers dropped to 1-1 on the season with a close 23-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on the road. They failed to come back from behind after trailing by two scores in the second half.

It was a rough day for the 49ers, who had a number of issues compounded by each other that led to a poor offensive performance. Turnovers, penalties, and more plagued the team in the loss.

Following the game, 49ers analyst Rohan Chakravarthi shared his instant reaction to the team’s 23-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, pointing out the major takeaways for the team moving forward.

Offense

Offensively, it starts with Brock Purdy, who didn’t have a bad game when you specifically look at the stat sheet, throwing for 316 yards, a touchdown, and an interception while completing 28/36 of his passes.

However, Purdy and the offense were no match for the Vikings’ blitzes and stunts, leading to six sacks on the day. The looks defensive coordinator Brian Flores threw at the 49ers clearly flustered the offense, killing drives.

In addition to his interception, Purdy had a costly fumble. The former led to a Minnesota scoring drive, while the latter came when San Francisco was trying to go down the field, reaching Vikings’ territory before the takeaway.

Purdy did have a ton of pressure coming his way, but he also had the propensity to hold onto the ball on Sunday, which isn’t a great formula against a Brian Flores defense.

On the ground, Jordan Mason was a crucial aspect of San Francisco’s offense, rushing for 100 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, showing off his physical style yet again. Minnesota was able to get some key early-down stops at times later in the game, but it felt the 49ers went away from the run too many times earlier as they tried to beat Flores’s blitzes through the air.

One key aspect that carried over from Week 3? The 49ers’ struggles in converting third downs. San Francisco was an ugly 2/10 on third downs, going 1/3 on fourth downs, and failing to extend drives on Sunday.

Now, this one wasn’t necessarily a bad loss, even if the score went how it did. San Francisco had their opportunities. There were two 4th downs that the 49ers were aggressive for but failed to convert, with one coming in a goal-to-go situation. They had a blocked punt that led to a Minnesota score. There were two turnovers that proved costly from Brock Purdy.

Still, the score was just a one-possession game, with the 49ers having their chances to win. That just didn’t happen on Sunday, with one too many issues hurting their chances at a victory.

Defense

The defense had its ups and downs in a weird game in which the 49ers won the time-of-possession battle but still put Minnesota in favorable spots to score.

San Francisco’s unit had to defend drives where the Vikings started at the SF 24, MIN 42, SF 10, and 50-yard line. Those four drives only led to 10 points, with the 49ers defense forcing a field goal, an interception, a touchdown, and a fumble.

There were several times where the defense held up extremely well, finding ways to limit running back Aaron Jones, while capitalizing on key mistakes.

Linebacker Fred Warner was amazing, creating both turnovers with a great read on an interception and a major hit near the goal line for a massive fumble.

However, the area where the defense struggled again was third-down conversions. Minnesota ended the game 7/12 but converted in key situations to win on Sunday.

On an early scoring drive, they converted 3rd & 16 and 3rd & 10. But the killer came on a 14-play, 62-yard field goal drive that lasted nearly seven minutes of the game clock in the fourth quarter.

Needing a stop to get the ball back down two scores, the defense couldn’t get Minnesota off the field, leading to too much time coming off the clock, and the offense wasn’t able to get two chances to score.

Overall, this one isn’t on the defense, given the situations they were put in. But there are definitely some things to clean up, including the run defense. Backup running back Ty Chandler had a game, going for 82 yards on 10 rushes and finding the holes on the outside to bounce a number of runs.