What we learned about the 49ers in Week 2: Brian Flores has their number

Last week, I said that each regular-season game should be treated like homework assignments for the final exam: The postseason.

If we continue the analogy, the 49ers failed their Week 2 homework assignment so severely that we might have to get the principal involved.

The scoreboard showed a closer game than it felt like, with the Minnesota Vikings beating San Francisco 23-17 for the Vikings’ second win against the 49ers in as many years. It was a game where it was tough to point out bright spots for San Francisco – Fred Warner and Jordan Mason might be the only two – with Sam Darnold and the Vikings taking the air out of the 49ers early and keeping San Francisco at least an arms-reach away all game.

But here, the results of the game don’t matter; it’s what the 49ers taught us that does:

The 49ers can’t score more than 17 points against Brian Flores

Sunday marked the third time Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers offense has faced a Brian Flores-coached defense. Below is a list of the points scored by San Francisco in the three games, ranked from most to fewest:

• 17 – 2020 Week 5 versus Miami (Flores was the Dolphins head coach)
• 17 – 2023 Week 7 versus Minnesota
• 17 – 2024 Week 2 versus Minnesota

The 49ers lost all three games, with Sunday the most recent example of Shanahan’s struggles against Flores. Sunday was the best the San Francisco offense has fared in the three games, with 399 total yards, 297 passing yards, 67 plays ran, and a time of possession of 34:48, all highs for Shanahan against Flores. But the point total and the result remained the same.

It was a mishmash of what went wrong for the 49ers’ offense. The offensive line struggled the entire game, Brock Purdy had two foolish second-half turnovers, and the 49ers had a drive end at the two-yard line (that two plays later turned into a 97-yard Minnesota score). Flores had the 49ers’ offense guessing at times what was coming and couldn’t get it going until it was too late.

Ownage is ownage.

If there are any positives to take, Jordan Mason doubled down on his stellar Week 1 performance, and the offense figured something out late in the fourth quarter and moved the ball for points on its final two drives. Other than that, the 49ers should be happy they shouldn’t have to face Flores – unless Minnesota takes advantage of the 2-0 start and meets San Francisco in January.

The pass rush might be a concern

On a scale from one to ten, my concern is at three, but that’s triple what it was after Week 1.

Minnesota allowed 13 pressures in Week 1 against the Giants, with six coming from Dexter Lawrence. The Vikings allowed only six pressures against the vaunted 49ers pass rush. Darnold was sacked three times, with Nick Bosa getting to the former 49er twice, but was kept clean for most of the game with 21 of his 26 pass attempts against no pressure.

Darnold would complete 16 of those 21 passes for 263 of his 268 yards, with his two touchdowns and lone interception coming when kept clean.

While Bosa had his pair of sacks, he didn’t get any help from Leonard Floyd, who was held without a pressure for the fourth time since the start of last season. But what might be most alarming for the 49ers’ defensive line is the Minnesota interior standing its ground against Javon Hargrave.

Of those 13 Week 1 pressures, ten were allowed by Garrett Bradbury and Ed Ingram, with Lawrence shredding them to pieces. Against the 49ers, Bradbury and Ingram combined to allow two pressures, and Hargrave followed Lawrence’s big Week 1 with just two pressures. Maliek Collins added a pressure of his own on Sunday with the 49ers starting interior pass rush combining for four pressures and no sacks through the first two games.

The 49ers went top-heavy with the pass rush group, but the early returns haven’t been great.

There are 15 games left in the season

Technically, we didn’t learn this on Sunday, as the 49ers have been scheduled to play 17 football games this year since May, but it’s a good reminder.

But Sunday was a stark reminder that San Francisco has games like they did against Minnesota every so often. In 2023, they had a three-game stretch at the end of October, during which they looked like they did on Sunday. 2022 saw that memorable 11-10 game in Denver and a loss in Atlanta, where the 49ers played down to an opponent and lost. These losses even date back to 2019, when the then 11-3 49ers lost to a 5-9 Falcons team.

These losses didn’t affect who the 49ers were in previous years, and Sunday likely doesn’t indicate what the rest of 2024 will look like. Is it unfortunate that this type of game happened so early in the season? Absolutely. The 49ers need to bank wins against teams like Minnesota because the schedule gets much more challenging when the calendar turns from September to October.

Although Dallas, Detroit, and Philadelphia also lost this week, slightly lessening the sting of the 49ers’ loss.