Niner Noise
FanSided

49ers vs Vikings: 4 things that went right for the 49ers

By Robert Morrison

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 11: Dee Ford #55 of the San Francisco 49ers sacks Kirk Cousins #8 of the Minnesota Vikings during the NFC Divisional Round Playoff game at Levi's Stadium on January 11, 2020 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 11: Dee Ford #55 of the San Francisco 49ers sacks Kirk Cousins #8 of the Minnesota Vikings during the NFC Divisional Round Playoff game at Levi's Stadium on January 11, 2020 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 11: Kirk Cousins #8 of the Minnesota Vikings DeForest Buckner #99 of the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 11: Kirk Cousins #8 of the Minnesota Vikings DeForest Buckner #99 of the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

No. 3: Run Defense

The San Francisco 49ers’ defense ended up as one of the strongest overall units in the NFL in 2019. However, if there was an area in which the unit struggled, it was in stopping the run.

Football Outsiders ranked them as the 11th-most efficient run defense at -12.1%, while they gave up an average of 112.6 yards per game, good for 16th in the league.

Throughout the season, they’ve had games where they stifled the competition (Week 2 at Cincinnati when they allowed 25 yards, for instance) and games where the opposite felt true (178 yards against the Ravens, 153 yards allowed to the Cards in Week 9), but the run defense was mostly middle of the pack.

Against the Vikings on Saturday, running back Dalvin Cook, who ran for over 1100 yards in just 14 games this year, managed just 18 yards on nine carries. As such, the road team seemed to abandon the run pretty early in the game despite only being down 14-10 at halftime.

Alexander Mattison, the other Vikings running back, only had one carry for three yards.

Exacerbating Cook’s struggles was the fact that he had a longest run of eight yards, meaning his other eight carries added up to just 11 yards, a paltry 1.2 yards per carry.

It’s hard to pin the Niners success against the run on any one thing. Maybe it was the return of linebacker Kwon Alexander from injury, who, in spite of only being credited with four run defense snaps, provided an emotional lift for the team.

Getting safety Jaquiski Tartt and edge rusher Dee Ford certainly helped matters, too.

But mostly: It just looked like the 49ers defense was determined to not let Cook and the running game beat them, and so they didn’t. And it was integral to the defense’s dominant performance on Saturday night in Santa Clara.