What a difference a year and a few months make. The last time the 49ers faced the Vikings, their opponent in the divisional round of the 2020 NFL playoffs, the two clubs were in very different places.
Their meeting in Week 1 of the 2018 season ended the way it was supposed to based on preseason prognostication. Minnesota was a Super Bowl contender, while the 49ers were a fringe playoff team. The Vikings prevailed 24-16 in a game where San Francisco’s mistakes and a wide talent gap between the two clubs underscored the disparity in their preseason outlooks.
Now the teams will meet again Saturday at Levi’s Stadium for the divisional round of the playoffs. This time it’s the No. 1-seed 49ers that are Super Bowl favorites, and the No. 6-seed Vikings that are fighting for their playoff lives.
The change for the 49ers has come swiftly and dramatically. They’ve closed the talent gap between them and the Vikings, and perhaps opened it in the other direction.
Consider who saw significant snaps for the 49ers on offense in their loss to the Vikings a season ago.
Joshua Garnett, Garry Gilliam, Alfred Morris, Pierre Garçon, Marquise Goodwin and Dante Pettis all played more than 20 percent of the offensive snaps in that game. Mike Person’s injury early in the game forced Garnett into the lineup. He then went down with an injury, which pushed Mike McGlinchey to right guard and Gilliam took over at right tackle.
Garnett’s fifth-year option wasn’t exercised and he left this offseason. Gilliam was cut. Morris also left in the offseason. Garçon was released as well.
Goodwin and Pettis are still with the club, but Goodwin saw his playing time diminish greatly before going on Injured Reserve late in the year. Pettis hasn’t played an offensive snap since Week 12. Conversely, now-star running back Raheem Mostert played only one offensive snap in that game.
San Francisco will now face Minnesota with a healthy offensive line, and a new stable of receivers that have become extremely productive. Deebo Samuel, Emmanuel Sanders and Kendrick Bourne combined for 123 catches, 1,662 yards and 11 touchdowns.
The 49ers’ top three receivers last season combined for 92 receptions for 1,349 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Jimmy Garoppolo is also substantially more comfortable in head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense. He stumbled through three starts before tearing his ACL last year. This season he’s completing 69.1 percent of his throws, and threw for 3,978 yards with 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. His 102.0 quarterback rating was 12 points higher than his mark from last season’s small sample.
Perhaps the more dramatic change for the 49ers has come on the defensive side.
Safety Adrian Colbert, who was cut this offseason, played every snap of last year’s Week 1 game.
Linebacker Brock Coyle started and played 86 percent of the defensive snaps. His replacement, Elijah Lee, played the other 14 percent. Mark Nzeocha, primarily a special teams player, saw action on 46 percent of the defensive snaps at linebacker. That’s by far the highest mark of his career.
Cassius Marsh, also released this offseason, played 55 percent of the downs as an edge rusher. Solomon Thomas was in for 49 percent of the Vikings’ offensive plays. Thomas has eclipsed that mark just three times this season – all of them coming after the defensive line had been hit hard by injuries.
Now their defensive line is perhaps the strength of their vastly-improved defense. Marsh has been replaced on the edge by Nick Bosa, and Dee Ford is on track to return to rush from the other side. Arik Armstead is having a career year with the added support on the outside, and players like Thomas have fallen into a more rotational role.
Their linebacking corps has also gotten dramatically better. Fred Warner now lines up alongside Kwon Alexander and rookie Dre Greenlaw. Alexander could return from a torn pectoral for the divisional round, which means Greenlaw would slide back to the starting Sam linebacker spot. That position typically isn’t on the field much, but Nzeocha’s heavy snap count last season is an indicator the 49ers may use more three-linebacker looks against a run-heavy Vikings offense. Warner, Alexander and Greenlaw is vastly superior to Warner, Coyle and Nzeocha.
Then there’s the secondary, where Jaquiski Tartt and Jimmie Ward now roam in the back end, while Richard Sherman has elevated his game back to an All-Pro level. Whether Ahkello Witherspoon or Emmanuel Moseley line up on the other side is yet to be determined, although both players have been good at times throughout the season. Witherspoon especially benefitted from the revamped pass rush, while Moseley thrived while Witherspoon was sidelined by a strained foot.
The Vikings return a lot of the same players that made them successful a season ago. Kirk Cousins is still throwing to Adam Theilen, Stefon Diggs and Kyle Rudolph, and handing the ball to Dalvin Cook. Everson Griffin and Danielle Hunter are still getting after the quarterback, and Harrison Smith is still monitoring the secondary.
There’s not a better indicator of how far the 49ers have come than the differences in the roster that’ll face the Vikings on Saturday, and the roster they had on Week 1 of the 2018 season. Getting a win over the Vikings would be a better indicator though, and another step toward San Francisco completing its transformation and finding its way back to the Super Bowl.