102 thoughts during 49ers playoff victory over Vikings

The day finally came. It’s San Francisco 49ers playoff football time as Niner Noise’s resident Australian shares his live thoughts during the playoff debut of the Kyle Shanahan era.

I won’t lie, I’m so nervous that I feel ill.

I’m predicting a 28-24 victory for the 49ers. It’ll be close because nowadays San Francisco are obligated to give us all a stroke and/or heart attack watching these close games.

That’s a good omen, right?

Minnesota to receive the ball, here we go!

49ers run defense looks good early, which is a good sign.

Three and out! Great defensive start!

Kittle didn’t drop that one!

Perfect start for the 49ers!

That’ll go some way towards settling my nerves, I can tell you that.

The 49ers have allowed no running room so far. It bodes well if the 49ers take away that aspect of the Minnesota offense.

Minnesota driving down the field, they’ve abandoned running the ball for now.

Oh boy Witherspoon, what were you doing?

He’s going to be benched.

I’ve defended Witherspoon in the past, but that was simply horrible play.

OK, time for the offense to respond.

This is exactly the opposite of the first drive. It began with passing down the field but this drive it’s just Mostert grinding them down.

How in the world did Garoppolo complete that?

That was more wobbly than the Cleveland Browns coaching!

Garoppolo tried to force the issue on that one. Needs to calm down a bit.

Such a promising drive ruined by a bad sequence of downs there.

Just once, I would like the team that drops a punt against us to NOT have it fall at their feet.

That was a great defensive response, and the 49ers have it at midfield.

These false starts are stalling our momentum.

Deebo is a fighter and I goddamn love it!

Ohhh and right after that, he fumbles the ball.

Dammit.

Oh thank god, Deebo was down.

That was close.

Man I love Deebo. I wish he got into the endzone after fighting for those yards.

Touchdown! Coleman falls into the endzone!

Man, Deebo will be my next jersey. Scared me a little on that apparent fumble, but he was down so it’s all good. I just love his fight.

Can the defense give the 49ers additional momentum? Remember the 49ers to receive the ball in the second half.

Well the defense definitely gave the 49ers some more momentum, can the offense make it a 10 or 14 point game to end the half?

49ers pinned back a bit, but they have time to make something of it.

Even a field goal would be big here.

Oh boy that was not a good throw, Garoppolo totally missed the linebacker there.

Just have to shake it off.

Can the 49ers hold the Vikings to three points?

Big third down here, can they limit the damage?

It wasn’t a perfect half, but to have the 14-10 lead is still a big plus.

Of course, it’s going to be huge if the 49ers could score a touchdown out of the gate to begin the second half. It hasn’t been more than seven points the difference yet.

OK, here we go!

Woo, unnecessary roughness penalty on Minnesota.

That’s great composure by Garoppolo facing down that third down blitz.

The running game has been alright, but the team still hasn’t had that huge chunk play off a rushing play yet.

Was a tough call to make, do you go for the first down or do you make it a full touchdown?

Can the defense start strong?

That run defense has been perfect so far. You can’t fault it.

Bosa will be flagged for a blindside hit after the interception, but the ball still goes to the 49ers.

Coleman has been the running back in form today, so it makes sense to use him to bleed the clock and move the chains.

Garoppolo hasn’t yet passed on this drive, maybe they’re setting up a big playaction to leave someone wide open?

No, they’re going to keep running.

To be fair, it isn’t hard to see why.

Touchdown! Coleman takes it in again!

He’s having himself a day.

24-10 isn’t an insurmountable lead, but it’s much needed breathing room.

Now the question is can the defense keep going?

Man, I would hate to be Cousins in that situation. Imagine completing the bootleg and seeing Bosa heading towards you like a tank.

Pass deflection on third down, and the 49ers get the ball again!

If we can go 17 or 21 up here, it would almost be game over.

The 49ers are just running the ball, and I cannot tell if it’s by design or if they’re just doing it because they’re getting decent gains every time.

MUFFED PUNT!

Big chance for the 49ers to put the game almost to bed!

They won’t get the touchdown, but three points is as good as seven here.

Field goal is good and it’s now a three score game at 27-10.

The game is over as long as the 49ers defense continues playing at a high rate here.

Minnesota will be more desperate now, and that could mean more turnovers if the defense play it properly.

Bosa with the third down sack, but he’s rather slow in getting up…

Nah he’s fine.

Hopefully just had the wind knocked out of him.

The defense has been dominant so far, if the offense can drain the clock here then the 49ers will be in the NFC Championship game.

Bourne has been good overall, but he has a few drops as well. It’s a big weakness of his game dropping those easy passes.

I would probably be angrier about it if the 49ers weren’t up by three scores right now.

All of the 49ers big name defensive linemen have a sack. Armstead, Bosa, Buckner and Ford.

The 49ers are just going to keep draining the clock here, there isn’t much to talk about.

The only question is whether Green Bay or Seattle will come to play San Francisco.

Green Bay of course got crushed here earlier in the year, but the 49ers would want to avenge the heartbreaking loss here against Seattle.

Minnesota turn it over on downs, and that’ll pretty much do it.

Just a little bit of garbage stats here, Bosa got his second sack of the day which is nice.

Minnesota turn it over on downs again and it’s game over.

Green Bay or Seattle, I don’t care. NFC Championship baby!

Thank you for joining me, and for one more week at least I hope you’ll join me again.

Go Niners!