Nice coaches don’t simply win video games; they expose the opposition within the course of.
That has been Kyle Shanahan’s modus operandi for almost twenty years as an offensive play-caller within the NFL.
However on Sunday in Minneapolis, Shanahan wasn’t the one successful the X’s and O’s battle.
No, it was the Vikings’ play-callers, head coach Kevin O’Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who appeared like masterminds within the 49ers’ 23-17 loss.
“I think he had a very good game plan against us,” George Kittle mentioned of Flores.
“You can feel it when you’re playing a really good coach who knows what they’re doing,” Nick Bosa mentioned of O’Connell, who labored below Shanahan in Cleveland and in his first yr working the 49ers.
Certainly, you possibly can. And Sunday’s loss has the Niners feeling spun.
The NFL is a copycat league. What works for one group in a single recreation might be replicated by all the league every week later.
And in the event you can placed on tape a scheme that may beat the reigning NFC champions, you possibly can guess your prime and backside greenback that the remainder of the league will attempt to do the identical factor after they play the 49ers.
Sure, the teaching mismatch on Sunday was so important—the Vikings’ recreation plan so illuminating—that it seemingly created a blueprint for the remainder of the league to duplicate.
The Niners couldn’t deal with what the Vikings threw their manner Sunday. They higher get used to seeing it much more within the coming weeks.
Worse but, the 49ers knew what was coming, at the least when their offense was on the sector.
Final yr, quarterback Brock Purdy couldn’t deal with the chaos Flores requires within the Vikings’ protection — a scheme that hundreds up the road of scrimmage earlier than the snap with linemen, linebackers, and even safeties. You don’t know if any, or all, are coming at you till the ball is snapped.
Purdy may need completed the sport with a pleasant, gaudy stat line — 28 of 36 for 318 yards and a landing, however he had two turnovers (a misplaced fumble and interception) and was sacked six instances. The Vikings pressured errors, notably in key conditions, and it left the Niners trying like a shell of the offense that was No. 1 within the NFL final season.
Even Purdy’s success was hard-earned. He needed to full some passes inside absurdly tight home windows, usually difficult two, three, and even 4 defenders.
It wasn’t a formulation for sustainable success, and it confirmed within the closing scoreline.
The NFL’s player-tracking information confirmed that Purdy accomplished 8 p.c extra passes than anticipated—an elite quantity.
Even so, the consequence was a complete quarterback score of 41 out of 100. That’s downright terrible — the third-worst mark of his profession.
The Niners’ 24-year-old quarterback has performed 16 regular-season video games in opposition to NFC opponents. His solely two losses have been to Flores’ Vikings.
Flores has Purdy’s quantity.
And now the remainder of the league has entry to it, too.
Purdy has six profession losses in video games he has completed wholesome, and three have come in opposition to a “chaos” protection — the 2 versus Flores, plus final yr’s Christmas debacle in opposition to Mike Macdonald’s Ravens protection, the worst recreation of Purdy’s profession (7.3 QBR).
Macdonald is now the Seahawks’ head coach.
You need to beat Purdy? Load up the road of scrimmage. Not solely does it depart Purdy confused, but it surely stresses the 49ers’ offensive line, which exterior of left deal with Trent Williams has severe pass-blocking points. Purdy was fortunate to be sacked solely six instances Sunday because the Vikings persistently put heart Jake Brendel on the bottom and spun left guard Aaron Banks.
Shanahan mentioned the Niners misplaced the sport due to “football things.”
Soccer issues like persistently submitting to the aggression of the Vikings’ protection on third and fourth down Sunday. The Niners have been 3-for-13 on such performs, killing drives, turning the ball over and giving the Vikings a win that was far more snug than the ultimate scoreline suggests, as Minnesota was a yard away from taking a 27-7 lead within the third quarter.
“They have a very good blitz scheme, caused a lot of confusion,” Shanahan mentioned of Flores’ protection. “They mix it up a ton, and we made some mistakes that cost us.”
“Obviously, with their disguises and stuff, it can be tough,” Purdy mentioned. “They do a good job of making it look like one thing, and it was another. … They did a lot. That’s on us. That’s on me.”
The Niners weren’t significantly better on protection on Sunday, both.
If Shanahan is taken into account a top-of-the-line offensive thoughts, then O’Connell, who shares his scheme, additionally shares that perch. With Kirk Cousins, Josh Dobbs, Nick Mullens, some man named Jaren Corridor, and now Sam Darnold, he has posted a 22-14 report in three seasons, with persistently spectacular offenses.
The Vikings’ formulation for achievement is identical because the Niners’: Assault the weak.
On Sunday, the Niners’ weak factors have been weak-side linebacker De’Vondre Campbell and safeties Ji’Ayir Brown and George Odum.
The play of the sport was a 97-yard passing landing from Darnold to All-Professional Justin Jefferson. It was a tactical mismatch from the snap, with Odum defending one of the best receiver on the planet 1-on-1 and Brown, who was caught flat-footed for a landing final week, enjoying as the one excessive security, the final line of protection.
Jefferson beat Odum down the sector with ease. A run-fake from Darnold caught Brown flat-footed once more. An attractive 55-yard rainbow throw over the protection resulted within the second-longest landing from scrimmage in Vikings historical past.
The Vikings’ second landing, coming after a Purdy interception, was a 10-yard move that put Brown in a state of confusion once more.
They have been shockingly easy performs; they simply attacked the weak to the tune of 14 factors.
And whereas the Niners couldn’t do something on third down, Darnold and the Vikings transformed 7-of-12 on Sunday. How? They attacked Campbell, who has misplaced greater than a step from his All-Professional days, and the weak factors within the 49ers’ zone protection.
Darnold was quite pedestrian on Sunday: He had a decrease QBR than Purdy (35.6).
However he got here by with “football things” within the large moments because of his head coach and offensive coordinator, who was masterful within the win.
If not for center linebacker Fred Warner, who turned in the most effective performances on the place you’ll ever see (a sack, an interception, 9 tackles, and a pressured fumble on the San Francisco 1-yard line), this recreation would have been a blowout.
The Niners are nonetheless one of many NFL’s elite groups, however with that standing comes a bullseye. Everyone seems to be making an attempt to knock this group down from its perch.
In back-to-back seasons, the Vikings have now proven the remainder of the league tips on how to do it.
“We had to learn the hard way,” Purdy mentioned of Sunday’s efficiency.
And it seemingly received’t be lengthy till they’re examined once more.
Initially Revealed: September 15, 2024 at 3:49 p.m.
