The midseason skid that looked like it could derail the San Francisco 49ers season – Santa Clara, Calif. – is firmly in the past.
Coming back to a successful formula of dominating the ground, the Niners have won three straight games and look like a contender in NFC again.
Deebo Samuel ran for two touchdowns before leaving with an injury and Elijah Mitchell ran for 133 yards and a score, helping the 49ers secure a 34-26 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
“We are all excited to be back in the mix and the weather is under our control,” said defensive end Nick Bossa. “We all knew we were a really good team. We had to do better and now we are starting to execute at the right time.”
The matchup between the two .500 teams fighting for the wild-card spot was extremely entertaining with six scores in the third quarter alone, including a 99-yard kickoff return score by Ken Wangwu of Minnesota.
But the 49ers (6-5) made enough plays, including a fourth-down stop near the goal line in the middle of the fourth quarter, to secure a third straight win after five losses in six games.
“I think we’ve both been playing really good ball the last few weeks,” said Niners coach Kyle Shanahan. “We have ground to build and so we were confident that it would be like a playoff game. When two teams are playing motivated and they have everything, so it’s a good football game for people to watch. It’s not always the most fun time-wise for everyone. But I am proud of my people and how they handled it.
Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 230 yards and a TD, but the Niners once again worked more of their way to the ground with two scores from Samuel, making him the first receiver since the merger to run five TDs in a season. Samuel had six carries for 66 yards and also caught a pass for 15 yards, after which he was left with a groin injury that he hopes is not serious.
San Francisco finished running on 39 carries for 208 yards.
“They came up with it,” said Vikings linebacker Eric Kendrick. “We knew his run game was really good. Too complicated, too confusing. He’s got a lot of guys to block and open for it. It was about finishing him and we didn’t. “
Kirk Cousins threw 238 yards and two TDs to Adam Thielen for the Vikings (5-6). But he also had an interception that set up a short San Francisco scoring drive in the third quarter and couldn’t connect with Justin Jefferson from 3rd to fourth when he lined up under guard instead of center.
The Niners entered field-goal range, but Robbie Gould missed with 1:56 for 42 yards and took the game away.
Minnesota turned it down before heading to the San Francisco 38 when Cousins missed out on Jefferson in fourth and eighth.
Quick strike
The 49ers scored twice in the 22-second span of the third quarter, when Samuel capped the first drive of the half with a 3-yard run.
Aziz Al-Shayer received an interception on the next play from scrimmage, with Cousins’ 212 straight passes falling to no interception.
In the next game, Mitchell drives it from 6 yards.
Score late
The Niners used an 87-yard drive to tie the game late in the second quarter to Juan Jennings on Garoppolo’s 3-yard pass, with 18 seconds left in the half.
The Vikings allowed 66 points in the last two minutes of the first half, the most for any team in 11 matches since at least 2000.
Forward play
The Vikings scored on their second drive of the game when Cousins hit Thielen on a 2-yard pass to take a 7-0 lead on fourth and goal. This made Minnesota the 17th team in the Super Bowl era to take at least a seven-point lead in each of the first 11 games.
The first 16 teams to do so combined for a .852 win percentage. The Vikings are the only team to do so and have a losing record.
Major injuries
Vikings: RB Dalvin Cook (shoulder) lost to a fumble after suffering an injury in the third quarter. Cook will have an MRI on Monday. … LB Anthony Barr (hamstrings) also moved in the third quarter.
49ers: LB Dre Greenlaw (groin) and RB Trey Cerman (ankle) left the game with injuries in the first half and did not return. Greenlaw returned for his first game of the season after suffering a groin injury. … LB Fred Warner (hamstring) left in the second half.
Next
Vikings: Visit Detroit on Sunday.
49ers: Visit Seattle on Sunday.