Rookie Jordan Addison has game to remember as Vikings stun 49ers for San Francisco’s second straight loss

By Ben Morse, CNN

(CNN) — Rookie wide receiver Jordan Addison had a game to remember as the Minnesota Vikings stunned the San Francisco 49ers 22-17 on Monday.

The 21-year-old finished the game at US Bank Stadium with an impressive stat line, seven catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns, including one particularly memorable moment.

Having had the ball wrestled out of his hands by San Francisco cornerback Charvarius Ward for an interception in the first quarter, Addison got his revenge just before halftime when he reversed what looked to be a certain turnover, ripping the ball out of Ward’s hands and taking it to the house for a 60-yard touchdown.

It was the perfect setting for Addison to have his breakout moment, with Minnesota already missing star wide receiver Justin Jefferson to a hamstring injury.

After the victory, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell was full of praise for Addison – who had been drafted with the No. 23 pick in this year’s draft – calling his long touchdown a “game-changing play.”

“Jordan’s been everything that I hoped for from the moment I put on the time from his time in college, but he’s been more than that,” O’Connell said.

“He’s been really taking on a role within our team, within our offense, he’s earned an incredible amount of trust from Kirk and the rest of our guys. Jordan was fantastic tonight, and this is for sure a performance he can build on for the future.”

Behind Addison’s big game, the Vikings were able to record a memorable victory over the 49ers, one which goes some way to salve the team’s poor start to the season.

They had begun the season 0-3 as last season’s ability to win close games – setting an NFL record of winning all 11 of their one-score games – left them.

However, in recent weeks, the team has returned to winning way, with errors being eradicated, the defense tightening up under coordinator Brian Flores and the offense finding its groove with quarterback Kirk Cousins hitting his stride again.

And in Monday’s game – facing the mighty 49ers – all facets of the team came together once again, with Cousins bouncing back from his early interception to throw a touchdown to Addison on the very next drive.

Minnesota’s defense also proved its worth throughout as it slowed down a previously dynamic offense.

The Vikings D forced a fumble from running back Christian McCaffrey on San Francisco’s first drive of the game, while also keeping Brock Purdy off kilter, intercepting the second-year quarterback twice, including Camryn Bynum’s fourth-quarter pick which sealed the victory.

For Cousins though – who had his eldest son, Cooper, in attendance at his first night game – there was definitely room for improvement.

“It was a positive night, but the way I’m wired, I’m thinking about the two red zone possessions we didn’t score touchdowns,” Cousins said. “You also know the difference between walking away with a win tonight and sitting here and you lost, it isn’t much, so you try not to get too low in the losses and you realize how close you were to winning, and you try not to get too up in the wins.

“I think it’s more of just: ‘Try to get that win and then regardless, put it away and go to the next one and fix whatever isn’t good enough, win or lose.’ That’s what we’ll do, but there’s no doubt when I’m driving home with Cooper, I’ll be in a much better mood than we were against the Chiefs two weeks ago.”

Faltering

No team in the NFL had a better opening five weeks to the new season than the 49ers.

The offense scored over 30 points in every game, while the defense stymied opponents.

However, in their narrow loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 6 and Monday’s defeat to the Vikings, San Francisco has flashed weaknesses and suggested there is hope for the opposition.

San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan said that, while there were positive signs in the loss, there was clear room for improvement from his side.

“The loss. Losing. I’m disappointed that we couldn’t get them off the field. They had one punt today, we had one punt. They had one turnover, we had three turnovers,” Shanahan explained.

“So I think when both teams only punt once, it looks like it’s going to be a shootout, but we ended up turning it over two more times than them. It was a five-point game, so it’s almost as simple as that.”

The Vikings improve to 3-4 while the 49ers’ second straight loss means they fall to 5-2.

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