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The Vikings earned a trip west after venturing
south for a 26-20 overtime victory over third-seeded New Orleans
last Sunday. Kirk Cousins' short touchdown pass to tight end
Kyle Rudolph on the first possession of the extra session ended
the Saints' season.
The Vikings had just five days to prepare for the 49ers, but the
rivals are hardly strangers.
The clubs met in the season opener last year, with the Vikings
handing 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo his first NFL loss as
a starter by picking him off three times, once for a touchdown,
in a 24-16 home win.
Garoppolo had more passing yards (261) than Cousins (244) that
day in their one-and-only head-to-head meeting.
The franchises have dueled five times in the postseason, with
the 49ers winning four. The Vikings' lone win came at the end of
the 1987 season in San Francisco.
That upset occurred under almost identical circumstances as this
week. The sixth-seeded Vikings, just 8-7 in the regular season,
had won at New Orleans during wild-card week before traveling to
top-seeded San Francisco and shocking a 13-2 49ers team that had
the best record in the league that season.
The 49ers (13-3) finished this regular season with the
second-best record in the NFL behind Baltimore (14-2). The
Vikings (10-6) snuck into the playoffs as the NFL's second wild
card.
The 49ers avenged the 1987 defeat with wins over the Vikings in
the next two postseasons, and then again at the end of the 1997
season in their most recent playoff matchup.
This year's rematch features a 49ers team that led the NFL in
rushing touchdowns with 23 against a Vikings defense that
allowed just eight rushing scores, tied for the third-best in
the league.
Nonetheless, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer made it clear Tuesday
that he's not totally focused on stalling the San Francisco
running game. The 49ers also feature All-Pro tight end George
Kittle.
"He's great with run after the catch, and they use him on a lot
of screens," Zimmer said.
"They use him in all different ways. He's very nifty. He'll give
you a head-fake and a shake and go the other way. And he's got
great speed. You combine those things with his run-after-catch
ability and the way he can get open in routes, and it makes him
very difficult."
The 49ers earned the right to host the divisional-round game by
virtue of a 26-21 win at Seattle in the regular-season finale.
The victory also earned the club a much-needed week off after a
second-half schedule that included two matchups with the
Seahawks, as well as head-to-heads with Green Bay, Baltimore,
New Orleans and the Los Angeles Rams.
The week off was the first of the season for 49ers wideout
Emmanuel Sanders, who was traded in-season from Denver, which
hadn't had its bye, to San Francisco, which already had its
break.
It also gave the club an extra week to examine starting outside
linebacker Kwon Alexander, who had been expected to miss the
rest of the season after suffering a torn left pectoral in Week
9.
Alexander was formally cleared to practice this week.
"Now it's a coaching decision," coach Kyle Shanahan said.
The game also represents the third meeting as opponents for
Cousins and Shanahan, who worked together as rookie and
offensive coordinator for Washington in 2012.
The quarterback has gone 2-0 since Shanahan got the
head-coaching gig in San Francisco, including a 26-24 Redskins
home win over the 49ers in 2017 when he went up against C.J.
Beathard.
Shanahan didn't have to be beaten twice to gain respect for
Cousins.
"I liked how efficient he was coming out of college watching him
on film, and then being with him for (two) years and seeing
first-hand how talented he was as a thrower," Shanahan said this
week. "I also saw how his mind worked and how he worked at it.
He understood everything that was happening, whether it was good
or bad, and always tried to learn from things."
--Field Level Media
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