49ers vs. Vikings: 5 biggest matchups to watch in Week 1

The San Francisco 49ers kick off their 2018 season against the Minnesota Vikings. Niner Noise looks at the biggest matchups to watch in the season opener.

Finally. It’s back. Football is back.

This has unquestionably been the longest offseason so far — at least it was for me. But it is all right now — everybody’s favorite sport is back.

And  before us is arguably the toughest game on the schedule to open the season for the San Francisco 49ers — a trip to cold Minnesota to face the Vikings, one of the most well-rounded teams in the league with an especially fearsome defense.

These Vikings remind me a lot of the “Legion of Boom” Seattle Seahawks in terms of talent and home-field advantage. U.S. Bank Stadium is an absolutely incredible venue that houses thousands of Vikings fans clapping and screaming the word “Skol” at the players to the beat of a monstrously thundering drum while the team’s massive horn, named the Gjallarhorn, lets out the Vikings’ signature haunting tune.

I don’t know about you. But to me, that is absolutely terrifying.

The Vikings are loaded with Super Bowl-level talent, too. All this will make the team a very tough test for the 49ers in the first week of the NFL season.

To be completely honest, this will be a very difficult game for the 49ers to pull out. A lot will have to go their way in order to keep quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo‘s seven-start winning streak alive.

With that being said, here are the top five matchups to watch in the 49ers’ first game of the season.