I must have PTSD when it comes to Ward. I saw you post a tweet that was about Ward and figured he hurt himself shaving or something like that.

Ward and Armstead have made themselves a lot of money this season. Hopefully they finish it off with a SB ring and then we can figure out if we bring them back or replace them.

I do not want to jenks anything but I think we all felt the same way. I always thought he could be a decent player if he ever stayed healthy, but the healthy part was the issue.

Is it Saturday yet?

Jesus I can't wait for this game. The news of Kwon, Tartt, and Ford playing isn't making it any easier.

Thoughts on starting Spoon vs. Mosely at corner. I'm in favor or starting Mosely personally and if whatever reason he isn't playing well (which hasn't happened all year) sub Spoon in. I think the other way around we're waiting to give up a big play or two and it could be costly. For as well as Spoon played early on I thought Mosely came in and played just as good if not better and has continued to where as Spoon has had a clear drop off, although making some plays here and there he has given up many too.

Spoon was our best DB until he got hurt. Dude was balling.

I'm super confused at why he's not playing like that guy after coming back. It's not like he's getting torched either, he's usually in position to make the play but just not getting it done.

At this point I think I'd prefer we start Moseley and then let them battle it out in camp next year for whoever takes the job. I know Spoon has the talent but you have to produce or it doesn't mean much.

I thought I read Saleh was talking like Spoon is starting again so if that's the case we better hope he's going to be Week 1-3 Spoon and not the guy who has been picked on recently.

Thielen and Diggs are legit and we cannot let them have big games against us. Going to be hard enough stopping Cook. Have to shut down their top receivers and really make Cousins panic in the pocket.

I don't know man bc Mosely gave up some plays too. I'd probably roll with spoon but he would be on a short leash.

I think you gotta run Mosely. He's had the job most of the year. Let him shake some rust off and get settled back in.

Kwon, Tartt, and Ford cleared and practicing today oh lawd

it's happening!!!

Fukkkkkkkk yes

What up 9er, brahs? Vike fan here. First and foremost, I gave my team no chance in hell of beating the Aints, so never even looked ahead to you guys. Anyway, i haven't seen many 9er games this year other than the thrashing you gave GB. I know we did play and beat you guys last year (2018 opener), but not sure how relevant that game is to your current team now.

Cook had a good first half vs NO, but in the 2nd half you could really see him shying away from contact–so his shoulder and chest injuries clearly were bothering him. His backup/change of pace RB is the rookie Alexander Mattison who is more of a North-South bruiser and has been very good this year (can also catch the ball). I think the Vikings need to get him more touches against you guys.

Vikings secondary is still in tough shape. I thought we might get our Nickelback (Alexander) back, but found out yesterday he needs knee surgery. E. Sanders if lined up in the slot I think could be the difference in this one (if Kirk doesn't just throw the game away himself of course).

Ironically I felt the same way about your game…which is now I'm kind of nervous about it lol.

Really the two teams are pretty similar in a lot of ways, especially on offense.

Both teams rely on a strong running game, heavy PA passing and ZBS on the OL.
Both teams have very strong DLines who tend to dictate the games.

I think really the biggest difference is in the secondary. I'd say we have the better corners right now(although the guy playing opposite Sherm has been a bit of a question mark recently) but Vikings have the better safeties.

Even the QBs have played fairly similarly in terms of numbers and play on 3rd down.

Last year's game is definitely not relevant IMO. 49ers have changed a ton since then in terms of guys who play meaningful snaps but it also included us losing our starting RG, backup RG and saw our rookie RT move inside to RG where he never played before and having our chit backup OT play at RT. We also lost Jerrick McKinnon for the game a week prior, requiring a new approach for the game and then lost our #1 WR at the time in Marquise Goodwin during the game. Lots of mistakes made by the 49ers in that game due to inexperience.

Doesn't mean some of those same mistakes won't pop up again but some guys who the 49ers relied on heavily last year in that game are no longer on team - Adrian Colbert, Brock Coyle, Cassius Marsh. Replaced with guys like Nick Bosa, Kwon Alexander, Dre Greenlaw, Dee Ford and Jimmie Ward.


The biggest question for the 49ers in this game will be how will their defense look. On paper we're getting back Dee Ford, Jaquiski Tartt and potentially even Kwon Alexander. There was a stat posted that on the snaps where Nick Bosa, Dee Ford and Kwon Alexander were in on the same passing plays, the opposing QB had a QBR of 3 out of 100.

So they SHOULD be improved from their second half struggles. Of course you don't win games on paper so we have to see them play well and make sure they're not rusty. We've had guys play great, get injured and come back to struggle a bit after the injury so you never know.

I think the 49ers should win this game as long as they play a clean game and don't turn the ball over or make bone headed plays but I also thought they would beat Seattle at home. You just never know.

Vikings are a dangerous and talented team and if the 49ers come out flat anything can happen. Saints saw that first hand.

Yeah, Kirk has really been either ON or OFF this whole season. Vs dominant defenses–(3 games vs Chicago since he's been here for example)–he has looked atrocious.

The one stat that sticks out in my mind is Jimmy G's 13 INT's this year. That is too high of a number and think it is the Vikings only chance this weekend. Both are Safeties are big time ball-hawks and one of our outside CB's (Waynes) has good hands as well. Same for Kendricks in the middle.

-on spread

Jimmy definitely has to do his part to avoid turnovers but in the second half of the season the turnover numbers while similar in number 7 vs 6 have been much less of the "Wtf Jimmy!" variety.

The only pick in the 2nd half of the season that he's thrown which wasn't either off the receivers hands to the defender or a great play by the defender was the first pick he threw vs Arizona.

He is still a gunslinger so it does lend itself to turnovers but he's done a pretty good job of making smart throws in recent weeks which has also been with a consistent group of pass catchers.

Vikings D is legit and Zimmer is a great defensive mind and Jimmy had arguably his worst game as a starter against you guys but things have changed since then. Our OL has to bring their big boy pants for sure. Jimmy may need to keep his gunslinger mentality down a bit and pick his spots.

What got us in trouble in the Seahawks game(among other things) were the fumbles when the pressure came. I think he's done a better job of just taking sacks in recent weeks when it happens and not forcing things. Hopefully for the 49ers he's smart with the football in the playoffs. As we all know best way to lose the game is to turn the ball over.

Can Jimmy scramble much or move around in the pocket to avoid pressure very well?

Kirk is a known fumble machine back there, but lately he's just been eating it and protecting the ball–which is good because he doesn't turn it over, but also bad because he gives up on possibly throwing a completion or running WAY too soon.

Jimmy can move some but I’m pretty sure the ACL recovery has slowed him down some. I was just watching some of his 2017 highlights the other day and he moved a lot better imo. Gives me a lot of hope for next year and beyond.

He can move around if he needs to if you recall his TD pass to Pettis against you guys last year. But he hasn't been running it much this year, definitely rare to see him scramble but while he's no CJ Beathard in the pocket, he's also not Russell Wilson so the OL has to play well or the offense will definitely struggle.

Cool. Zimmer employed an odd strategy vs the Aints last week where we moved both our DE's (Griffen and Hunter) inside to exploit their weakness at the Guard position. It worked well, as we have two other DE's (Weatherly and Odenigbo) who would be starters on easily over half the teams in the league. Your interior OL is much better than the Aints though, so Zim will have to come up with something else. Our run D has been iffy all year. So that is my biggest worry on defense. We stopped the Aints rushing fine, but that was helped out by that idiot Payton abandoning the run so quickly……

I honestly think a huge factor in this game is just the fact that we are going to be rested, at home, and having a huge emotional boost with returning players coming back. I think that Minn just won't be able to match that this week and if they don't stick around early with some solid play or forcing a turnover it could get ugly.

Personally I think Cousins is going to have a rough day and I don't see our offense being forced into turnovers. Minn may be able to get some stops here and there but over the course of the game I think offensively we will put up points.

As far as last years game goes its meaningless. This is a completely different roster on both sides of the ball as well as the fact that was game 1 with a new team vs this will be week 18 with a roster with chemistry.

Minn is well rounded, and a tough team when they play well but not sure they will be on their A game Saturday. I think matchup wise they play well vs the Saints and they won't have that same advantage against us. I didn't think they would beat the Saints but it didn't really surprise me tbh. This is the playoffs, all the teams are good - so is this game likely a win for us, I'd say yes, but a loss wouldn't be a huge surprise. I think that if we avoid mistakes which I think we will then we win, we have too much on both sides of the ball for them to compete with, and again the rest and energy we will have I think will be a huge difference.

Yeah it was a great strategy that they employed and hopefully one that Shanahan is planning for in case the Saints try it against us. Homer goggles aside I think the Saints OTs are better than ours but I'm not sure if our interior is that much better than theirs(IMO it's definitely the weakness on our line, especially with Weston Richburg out)

The big find for us this year with our OL injuries however has been Daniel Brunskill who has been a huge boost in terms of pass blocking. Mike Person missed a couple of games at RG to end the season and Brunskill played well inside. Person is slated to be back but if the Vikings decide to rush their edge guys inside and have success Brunskill may be the answer to counter that move.

In watching your game vs the Saints it seemed like Drew definitely wasn't ready for the pressure up the gut and froze a couple of times. Very surprising. Also seemed like he tried too many big plays vs taking the smaller stuff and try to move the chains. 49ers passing game makes a lot of big plays but we don't throw deep a lot. More quick throws with YAC situations. I expect us to try to get the run game going and use the screen game to try to keep your rushers from being too aggressive but your linebackers are excellent so it may have to be a very slow and steady type of game for our offense.

I don't think the Saints were comfortable with that. 49ers have no problem with it.

Yeah biggest factor is 49ers should be well rested while Vikings are traveling on a somewhat short week and coming off a game. They were very smart to sit their guys week 17 so they got in some rest of their own but still coming off an OT game(even if it was just one possession) the Sunday prior to play next Saturday and include two flights in the process gives the 49ers an advantage for sure.

Hopefully they take advantage of it.

Agreed. It is imperative for the Vikings to stick around early–as we did with the Aints last week. Vikings are NOT built to comeback–at least not against good competition.

That's my biggest concern offensively. If you look at his 3 career games vs Chicago (which I would call a similarly dominant/get after the QB defense as yours)–Cousins has been absolutely dreadful. Like if you take out some of his garbage-time stats those games–he didn't even have 100 yards passing and zero TD's.

Our secondary defends the deep ball very well. Both are safeties get a lot of picks and Waynes on the one side can fly–so he is tough to burn.

Both Rhodes and Waynes tackle well, but are easy to beat on short throws like out's for what it is worth. Rhodes did have his best game in over 2 years vs the Saints last week though.

Looked like Rhodes hurt his shoulder in that game? he good?

That dude "feigns" injury every single game. Like seriously, it is a running joke among MN fans. So who knows?

He came back and played well after the supposed stinger last week for what it's worth though. He also practiced yesterday. We honestly don't have anything else to put out there at this point.

How has your OL been this year?

That's the thing, our big plays tend to come on short/intermediate throws that get yards after the catch. I'm curious how you guys will look to cover Kittle.

He had a big game against you guys last year but that was before everyone realized what a threat he was so he's definitely the #1 guy to stop in our passing attack.

It has been quite a bit better in all aspects compared to the last few years.

Rushing: we have Gary Kubiak as an assistant and use his ZB scheme. It has been effective with 3 different RB's.

Passing: it has been pretty good with the EXCEPTION when playing against elite level pass rushers. Gave up 6 sacks Week 4 vs the Bears (Mack), 5 sacks vs Denver (Von Miller), and then 5 vs GB Week 16 (Z. Smith). In the other 12 games that Cousins has started–we only average giving up exactly 1 sack per game.

I have no idea what the plan to cover Kittle is going to be. Kendricks is probably the best LB in football at covering RB's out of the backfield–so he'll be doing that. We haven't asked Barr to do any downfield coverage since he was exposed vs the Rams last season. Whatever they come up with–it only is going to be effective if our DL can get pressure on Jimmy. But that only happens by stopping those 5+ yard run gains on 1st and 2nd down (something our D hasn't been able to do in our losses this season).

I think both offenses are very similar to one another so the defenses should be somewhat familiar with how to stop them. I look for a tight low scoring game and whoever winning the turnover battle will win the game.