MINNEAPOLIS — A second straight road game had the favored 49ers desperately in need of a fourth-quarter comeback. This one failed, too.
The 49ers defense was in retreat throughout Monday night’s 22-17 loss to the Vikings, but it wasn’t until Brock Purdy had two passes intercepted in the final 5 1/2 minutes to seal a second straight defeat.
It was Purdy’s first career game with two interceptions, and they came on targets to Jauan Jennings and Ray-Ray McCloud, the receivers summoned to help fill in for Deebo Samuel, who is out with a shoulder he fractured in the previous game’s 19-17 loss at Cleveland.
The 49ers (5-2) saw their defense repeatedly blow assignments and allowed 378 passing yards to Kirk Cousins, who did not get sacked and did not even have the services of star receiver Justin Jefferson (injured reserve).
The Vikings (3-4) have won seven straight home games against the 49ers dating back to 1994.
Purdy and the 49ers offense had chances to rectify their defense’s glaring woes.
Purdy’s first interception came just after he converted a fourth-and-1 dive at midfield. He followed it with a fateful pass intercepted by Camryn Bynum at the Vikings’ 30-yard line, with Jennings trailing about 5 yards late on the route.
The Vikings’ Greg Joseph missed a 50-yard field goal attempt with 1:11 remaining to give Purdy and the 49ers a final chance. And after back-to-back completions to McCloud got the 49ers to the Vikings’ 40-yard line, Purdy tried to hit McCloud again, only his pass found Bynum, again.
The Vikings were 7-of-10 on third-down conversions before a fourth-quarter stop forced them to punt for the first time, with 9:22 remaining.
Christian McCaffrey, playing through an oblique injury, scored two touchdowns, extending his streak of 16 consecutive games with at least one score (one shy of Lenny Moore’s record with the 1965 Baltimore Colts).
The 49ers’ comeback bid caught fire when McCaffrey scored on a 35-yard catch-and-run down the right sideline, cutting the Vikings’ lead to 19-14 with 5:54 until the fourth quarter. Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk made key blocks to spring McCaffrey untouched the final 25 yards.
Preceding that score were completions to McCaffrey (12 yards) and George Kittle (28), but before those plays, the 49ers’ mostly maligned defense came through with a goal-line stand, forcing the Vikings to settle for a 20-yard field goal. Another Vikings field goal, from 54 yards, pushed their lead to 22-14 only 20 seconds before the fourth quarter.
Jake Moody’s career-long 55-yard field goal pulled the 49ers within 22-17 with 13:21 to go. The rookie kicker had missed a 40-yard, second-quarter attempt wide right, wich was eerily similar to a 41-yard, wide-right miss in the final seconds of last game’s 19-17 loss at Cleveland.
The 49ers, whose defense allowed a league-low 14.5 points per game through Week 6, had yielded 16 by halftime Monday night. Miscues had them in retreat. The worse look: a 60-yard touchdown catch Charvarius Ward surrendered with seven seconds remaining en route to a 16-7 halftime deficit. Ward tried to repeat what worked on a first-series interception, but this time, Jordan Addison stripped the ball away at the 35-yard line, and Addison had a clear path to the goal line became the 49ers had blitzed and safety Tashaun Gipson Sr. bit forward instead of providing insurance deep.
Less than a minute earlier, the 49ers had pulled within 10-7 on a steady touchdown drive, capped by a 3-yard scoring run from McCaffrey. That drive stayed alive by virtue of Brandon Aiyuk’s 25-yard, third-down catch at midfield, followed by a pair of third-and-1 conversion runs from McCaffrey, who scored behind blocks from Aaron Banks and Jaylon Moore, the latter of whom started in place of the injured Trent Williams.
Each team committed a turnover on its opening possession — a Ward interception near midfield was followed by a McCaffrey fumble at the Vikings’ 12-yard line. The Vikings converted McCaffrey’s opening-drive fumble into a touchdown drive, capped off when Cousins’ third-and-2 pass sailed 20 yards to Jordan Addison, with Dre Greenlaw trailing in coverage, Gipson Sr. being late to help, and Nick Bosa jumping for the ball at the line rather than rush the pocket.
One of the 49ers defense’s ugliest series this season came in the second quarter. It saw Fred Warner miss a tackle on a 13-yard run by Cam Akers, followed up with Cousins dropping a screen pass over blitzing defenders Dre Greenlaw and Tashaun Gipson (a third-and-10 blitz?) for a 30-yard catch-and-run by Akers to the 2-yard line. The Vikings settled for a 21-yard field goal on 10-0, with Moody looking on from the 49ers’ sideline.
The 49ers defense made a successful goal-line stand after Deommodore Lenoir’s pass-interference penalty in the end zone, and the Vikings settled for a 20-yard field goal and 19-7 lead midway through the third quarter.