Minnesota Vikings 23, San Francisco 49ers 17: Vikings Pull Upset in Home Opener

Yep, they did it!

After cruising to an easy victory in their season opener over the New York Giants, the Minnesota Vikings returned to U.S. Bank Stadium to face a San Francisco 49ers team that many felt would provide a much tougher test.

They did, and the Vikings were up to it.

The Vikings got two more touchdown passes from Sam Darnold and a trifecta of field goals from rookie Will Reichard, and their defense harassed Brock Purdy and company all day to come away with a 23-17 victory over the defending NFC Champions.

The Vikings got the first points in this one courtesy of their special teams. It started with a blocked punt from the venerable C.J. Ham when the Niners were attempting to kick it away.

That led to the first points of the game and the first NFL field goal for rookie Will Reichard, a 22-yarder to make it 3-0 in favor of the home team.

The Niners then took a possession that spanned the first and second quarters and marched all the way down to the Minnesota 2-yard line, where they faced a 4th-and-goal. Purdy attempted a pass to Juaun Jennings, but it was tipped by Andrew Van Ginkel and fell incomplete for a goal-line stand for the purple.

And the Vikings took advantage in a big way, as on the second play of the ensuing drive Sam Darnold dropped back to pass and found the NFL’s best wide receiver for a 97-yard touchdown pass to make it 10-0.

On their next possession, the Niners got to the Minnesota 42-yard line where they again faced a fourth-down situation with a 4th-and-2. Purdy attempted to run for the first down but was stopped short by Blake Cashman for a second consecutive turnover on downs. Unfortunately, the Vikings were unable to take advantage as Fred Warner picked off Darnold in the red zone to end the drive for Minnesota.

The Niners took advantage of the turnover, marching down the field and getting into the end zone on a 7-yard pass from Purdy to George Kittle just after the two-minute warning to make it 10-7. The Vikings then extended the lead on the final play of the half, as they got Reichard into position to hit a 39-yard field goal to make it 13-7 at halftime.

Early in the second half, the Vikings turned another turnover into points, as Josh Metellus came up with an interception of Brock Purdy on a tip drill to set the Vikings up at the San Francisco 10-yard line.

That was immediately followed by a 10-yard touchdown pass from Sam Darnold to Jalen Nailor to make the score 20-7 midway through the third quarter of play.

The Minnesota defense generated another turnover on the Niners’ next possession, as Brock Purdy just had the ball slip out of his hand and it wound up in the hands of Jihad Ward for Minnesota’s third turnover of the afternoon.

Unfortunately, just when it looked like the Vikings were going to add more points, they got bitten by the turnover bug themselves, as Aaron Jones fumbled at the 2-yard line on a screen pass that looked like it was going to be a score with the Niners recovering inside the 1-yard line.

The Niners took advantage and swung the momentum back in their favor on a 10-yard touchdown from Jordan Mason to make the score 20-14 with just over ten minutes left in the contest. That gave him 100 yards on the day and put the game back in play after it looked like the Vikings were about to close it out.

The Vikings responded on the next drive on Reichard’s third field goal of the day, this one a 27-yarder to make it 23-14 with just over three minutes left in the game and the Niners out of timeouts. The Niners did move the ball down the field and got a 31-yard field goal from Jake Moody to make it 24-17 with just over a minute left, but the Vikings recovered the ensuing onside kick and went to victory formation to move to 2-0.

The Vikings will remain home in Week 3, as they’ll play host to the Houston Texans at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Minnesota Vikings pull off an upset in their home opener, as they take down the San Francisco 49ers by a final score of 23-17. Thank you to everybody who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!