Vikings rookie bags two touchdowns as Niners stumble again

Los Angeles (AFP) – Rookie receiver Jordan Addison scored two touchdowns to lead the Minnesota Vikings to an upset 22-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday in the NFL.

Issued on: 24/10/2023 – 06:19

2 min

Addison connected with Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins twice in the first half in a wire-to-wire win for Minnesota at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

“It’s just team football,” Cousins said after the win. “Lot of guys making plays.

“We found a way. This league’s tough — one play here, one play there. We found a way tonight, and we’ve got to keep stacking them up,” added Cousins, who finished with 378 passing yards from 35-of-45 attempts with two touchdowns.

The 49ers — tipped by many observers as Super Bowl contenders — slumped to a second straight defeat following their loss to Cleveland the previous week. San Francisco fell to 5-2 after the defeat while Minnesota improved to 3-4.

The 49ers arrived in Minneapolis determined to bounce back from their loss to the Browns, but were missing receiver Deebo Samuel and left tackle Trent Williams through injury.

San Francisco looked to have made a dream start after an interception on Minnesota’s opening drive.

But the Vikings responded in kind to force a fumble from Niners running back Christian McCaffrey, launching a 10-play, 89-yard drive that ended with Cousins finding Addison for the opening touchdown.

A Greg Joseph field goal from 21 yards put Minnesota 10-0 up early in the second quarter before McCaffrey atoned for his earlier blunder with a touchdown to cut the deficit to three points.

The Vikings hit back just before half-time though when Addison outmuscled Niners cornerback Charvarius Ward to score his second touchdown of the night to make it 16-7 at the break.

Two more Joseph field goals either side of a McCaffrey touchdown left the Vikings 22-14 ahead going into the final quarter.

Niners kicker Jake Moody cut the gap to five points with a 55-yard field goal to start the fourth quarter, setting up a tense finale.

Minnesota then squandered the chance to give themselves an eight-point advantage with just over one minute remaining when a Joseph field goal attempt from 50 yards drifted wide right.

That gave the 49ers a final chance to mount a game-winning drive.

But 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy’s attempt to find Raymond McCloud instead fell into the grasp of Vikings safety Camryn Bynum, who snaffled his second interception of the game to ice the contest.

© 2023 AFP