Vintage Favre Beats 49ers

The 49ers looked as if they were going to pull off their 3rd consecutive victory to start the season Sunday, as they were getting another solid performance from their defense, and a strong game from Shaun Hill. Then Brett Favre showed what he's still capable of doing, marching the Vikings down the field 80 yards for the game winning TD in the games final minute.

Down 24-20 and needing a TD to win, Favre connected with Greg Lewis on a 32 yard pass with 2 seconds remaining and beat the 49ers 27-20. Again, I can't stress how solid the 49ers played on Sunday, it was quite possibly their best defensive effort of the season. They held Adrian Peterson to just 85 yards on 19 carries, and didn't yield an offensive point to the Vikings in the second half until the Lewis TD at the end of 4th quarter. It was just that final 80 seconds in which Favre marched the Vikes down the field in which the Niner defense let down their guard a bit, and Favre made them pay in a way that only Brett Favre could do it. The only other QB who I think may have been able to pull off that win would be Tom Brady, and that's about it. I can't get too down on how the game ended up, because there just wasn't much more that the Niners could have done.

I said coming into the contest, that it was going to have to be on Shaun Hill, little did I know that Frank Gore would sprain his ankle on the first play of the game and really put the pressure on the Niners QB. I also mentioned in the preview post Saturday, that it would be wise for the Niners to get Vernon Davis more involved in the play-calling, and all he did was catch 7 balls for 96 yards and two TD's, including one in the fourth quarter that gave the Niners the 24-20 lead. Both Hill and Davis did their part, and the offense as a whole really picked up in Gore's absence. They didn't have much of a running game going with Glen Coffee, but again, the Vikings sport one of the leagues nastiest run defenses, so I don't think the lack of a running game threw a wrench into Singletary's game plan. That said, the inability to run the ball at the end of the game ultimately allowed Brett Favre with just under a minute-and-a-half to do what he does so well, but they can only learn and get better from this. I mean, you hate to loss a game, any game no matter who it's against, but if you have to lose one, I think that's the way you'd pick to do so. I don't see this game taking anything away from the 49ers team confidence and outlook on the season, and I think it will just make them hungrier and teach them to put the dagger in teams when they have the chance.

Gore Update: There hasn't been much new to report on Frank Gores twisted ankle, but he was set to have an MRI on Monday afternoon. It didn't look to bad on Sunday, and Gore was standing there on the sidelines after it happened, but ankles are never something to be taken lightly, especially with power running backs like Gore. We'll try and post more on this when we get new info, but right now, I'd plan for Glen Coffee to be the featured back on Sunday vs. Rams in week four... Also, Check out Docs Sports for Bookmaker Bonus Codes!