It wasn’t quite the Minneapolis Miracle, but there were similarities.
Late in the first half of last night’s 49ers-Vikings game, quarterback Kirk Cousins found rookie receiver Jordan Addison for a 60-yard catch-and-run touchdown. It pushed the score to 16-7, at a time when it felt like the 49ers had gathered real momentum.
The ball could have been, and frankly should have been, intercepted by San Francisco cornerback Charvarius Ward. At a deeper level, however, the 49ers made a very bad defensive call.
Chris Simms and I spent plenty of time breaking it down on Tuesday’s PFT Live. The 49ers sent seven men toward Cousins, with single coverage on three receivers and linebacker Fred Warner dropping from the line, apparently in the event tight end T.J. Hockenson ran a pattern. (He didn’t.)
The Vikings had no timeouts. Sixteen seconds remained in the half. The Vikings were highly unlikely to get to the end zone. It would have been difficult to complete a pass in field-goal range and kill the clock before the half expired.
Via the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, it was the first time since Week 11 of the 2020 season that any team ran a seven-man blitz with fewer than 30 seconds in a half on the opponent’s side of the 50.
Why did defensive coordinator Steve Wilks call that play? Why didn’t coach Kyle Shanahan veto it? Those questions and others are addressed in the attached clip.
(That’s my way of getting you to watch it.)
