NFL Picks 9/15 – San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings

NFL Picks 9/15 – San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings

by Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

The San Francisco 49ers (1-0) are on the road facing the Minnesota Vikings (1-0) on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium. The teams matched up in Week Seven of last season with Minnesota upsetting the visiting 49ers 22-17 on Monday Night Football. San Francisco has lost seven straight games in Minnesota. The 49ers last win at Minnesota was in December 1992 when Hall of Famers Steve Young and Jerry Rice headlined a star-studded 49ers team. San Francisco is a 4.5-point favorite and the total is 46.5.

The Super Bowl runner-up 49ers opened the season with a convincing 32-19 win over the visting New York Jets on Monday Night Football. Superstar running back Christian McCaffrey was a late scratch from last week’s game due to a calf/Achilles injury. However, the 49ers did not miss a beat as third-year running back Jordan Mason got the start and carried the ball 28 times for 147 yards and a touchdown in the win. It was a career night for the undrafted Georgia Tech product. 

San Francisco’s outstanding defense picked up where they left off last season by limiting Aaron Rodgers to just 167 passing yards and allowing a paltry 68 total rushing yards to the Jets vaunted running game. All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner led San Francisco with seven tackles. Newly acquired defensive end Leonard Floyd collected San Francisco’s only sack in the win. 

NFL Picks 9/15 – San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota opened the season with a crushing 28-6 win at the listless New York Giants a week ago. Vikings starting quarterback Sam Darnold was excellent in his debut with the team. He was also making a return to MetLife Stadium where he spent the first three seasons of his NFL career as a member of the New York Jets. Darnold completed 19 of 24 passes for 208 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in his triumphant return to New York. Running back Aaron Jones was also terrific in his Vikings debut finishing with 94 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown. 

Minnesota’s defense produced a dominant performance in Week One sacking Giants quarterback Daniel Jones five times and picking him off twice. Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel scored on a spectacular one-handed interception return that he picked off at the line of scrimmage in the third quarter. Van Ginkel’s third quarter touchdown closed out the scoring for the game.  

GAME STORYLINES: SAN FRANCISCO

For the past five seasons, the San Francisco 49ers have been on the cusp of winning the Super Bowl. They’ve made Super Bowl in the 2019 and 2023 seasons, and made it to consecutive NFC Championship games in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The 49ers return most of their key players who have been instrumental in the current stretch of stellar play and they enter the 2024 season as one of the Super Bowl favorites.

The asension of star quarterback Brock Purdy has been a remarkable story. The third-year signal caller went from being the last pick – No. 262 overall –  in the 2022 NFL Draft to being one of the highest rated quarterbacks in the NFL a year ago. The 24-year-old Purdy finished last season with 4,280 passing yards, 31 touchdowns to 11 interceptions and completed 69.2 percent of his passes. His 4,280 passing yards broke the single-season franchise record set by Jeff Garcia in 2000. Purdy is 18-4 in the regular season and 4-2 in the playoffs.

Brock Purdy has an elite cast of players returning on offense in All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey (1,459 rushing yards, 14 touchdowns, 564 receiving yards, 7 receiving touchdowns in 16 games last season) wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk (75 catches for 1,342 yards, 7 touchdowns in 16 games) and Deebo Samuel Sr. (60 catches for 892 yards, 7 touchdowns in 15 games) along with tight end George Kittle (65 catches for 1,020 yards, 6 touchdowns in 16 games). McCaffrey and Aiyuk established career highs in yards. The 49ers 398.4 yards per game ranked second in the NFL last season.

NFL Picks 9/15 – San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings

Backup running back Jordan Mason (28 carries for 147 yards, 1 touchdown) and WR3 Jauan Jennings (5 catches for 64 yards) led the 49ers in rushing and recieving last week which is a testament to the 49ers ability to draft and develop players. The 49ers signed Mason as an undrafted free agent out of Georgia Tech in 2022. While Jennings was a 7th round pick in the 2020 draft out of Tennessee. Both players could have prominent roles with the team this year. Mason will get his second NFL start on Sunday as Christian McCaffrey will be inactive due to a calf/Achilles injury.

On defense, San Francisco returns a plethora of players who formed one of the top units in the NFL last yrar. All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner (132 tackles, 4 interceptions, 4 forced fumbles, 2.5 sacks in 17 games last season), All-Pro cornerback Charvarius Ward (72 tackles, 5 interceptions, 1 forced fumble, 1 defensive touchdown in 17 games), defensive end Nick Bosa (53 tackles, 10.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles in 17 games) and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave (44 tackles, 7 sacks in 16 games). The 49ers added veteran defensive end Leonard Floyd as a free agent in the offseason. The 32-year-old Floyd recorded a sack in last week’s win over the Jets and totaled 58 sacks over 8 seasons prior to the 2024 season.

GAME STORYLINES: MINNESOTA

The Minnesota Vikings have ushered in a new era offensively as they’ve jettisoned stars Kirk Cousins, Dalvin Cook, Adam  Thielen and Alexander Mattison in recent years. All four players starred on Vikings teams that could put up points but were very inconsistent. There was speculation that Minnesota would also part ways with young, superstar wideout Justin Jefferson and rebuild from scratch. But Minnesota ended up giving Jefferson a 4-year, $140 million extension in June.  

The 25-year-old, fifth-year dynamo Jefferson has already produced an extraordinary NFL career up to this point. His first three seasons saw him finish with receiving totals of 1,400, 1,616 and 1,809 respectively. Last season, Jefferson was hampered by a right hamstring injury that kept him out for almost two months. He still finished last season with 1,074 yards and 5 touchdowns across 10 games. He recorded 4 catches for 59 yards and a touchdown in last week’s win against the Giants. 

In addition to keeping Justin Jefferson, Minnesota moved up one spot in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft to select Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the 10th pick. McCarthy led Michigan to a 15-0 record and the 2023-24 National Championship a year ago. He was expected to be Kirk Cousins immediate replacement and the Vikings quarterback of the future. Unfortunately, McCarthy suffered a torn mensicus in his right knee during the Vikings preseason opener against the Raiders in August and will miss the entire season. 

NFL Picks 9/15 – San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings

Sam Darnold is now thrust into the starting role for Minnesota with McCarthy’s injury. Darnold entered the NFL with high expectations after the Jets selected him third overall in the 2018 NFL draft. Injuries, inconsistency and a lack of offensive weapons marred his time in New York which led to him being traded to Carolina after 3 seasons in 2021. Minnesota is his fourth team in 7 NFL seasons. Darnold is still just 27-years-old and now has a chance to revive his NFL career with Minnesota. He was Brock Purdy’s back up in San Francisco last year.

Minnesota signed veteran running back and former division rival Aaron Jones as a free agent in March. The 29-year-old speedy back spent his first 7 NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers before they released him in the offseason. Jones had 5.940 rushing yards and 63 total touchdowns across 7 seasons with Green Bay. Jones finished with 94 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown against the Giants last week. 

THE PICK: 49ERS (-4.5)

The 49ers looked to be in mid-season form in Week 1 as they hammered Green Bay – even without their All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey. I don’t see why anything would change this week against a makeshift Vikings team. I like the 49ers to end their 32-year drought in Minnesota…49ers 31, Vikings 17

NFL Picks 9/15 – San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings