Minnesota Vikings: Early look at Divisional Round matchup with 49ers

Before the Minnesota Vikings face the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Round, here’s an early look at the playoff contest between the two squads.

After a thrilling overtime victory in the opening round of the 2020 NFL Playoffs on Sunday afternoon, the Minnesota Vikings will continue their pursuit of reaching the Super Bowl. The sixth-seeded Vikings kicked off the postseason by upsetting the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Wild Card Round.

Minnesota got out to a lead on the road to jump out ahead of New Orleans early on the road. The Vikings opened the first half of action up by outscoring the Saints, 13-10, in the first two quarters to grab a three-point lead going into halftime.

However, New Orleans battled back in the second half and evened things up, outscoring Minnesota, 10-7, in the final two quarters to force overtime in New Orleans. In overtime, Kirk Cousins and the Vikings stepped up, with the quarterback finding tight end Kyle Rudolph in the end zone on the opening drive to steal the playoff contest in upset fashion.

With the win, Minnesota will advance to the NFC Divisional Round on Saturday evening and will take on the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers at 4:35 p.m. ET on Saturday on NBC in the second round of the playoffs at Levi’s Stadium.

The winner of the game between the Vikings and 49ers will grab a spot in the NFC Championship Game while taking on the winner of the other Divisional Round game between the fifth-seeded Seattle Seahawks and the second-seeded Green Bay Packers for a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

The Vikings, riding high from their entertaining victory over the Saints to start the NFC Playoffs, will face off against a tough 49ers squad that is coming off of a bye in the opening round of the postseason.

San Francisco enters the playoffs as the top team in the NFC following finishing the regular season schedule with a record off 13-3 overall while claiming the NFC West title to get the No. 1 overall seed in the conference.

The 49ers, who ended the year winning their final two games, were stellar both on the road and at home in 2019, finishing the season with a road record of 7-1 and a home record of 6-2.

Minnesota and San Francisco will be squaring off for the first time this year, with the two teams now playing each other in either the preseason schedule or during the regular season leading into the playoffs.

The last time the two teams faced each other was in the 2018 regular-season opener, with the Vikings topping the 49ers, 24-16, at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

A week after shutting down a high-powered offense in the Saints in the NFC Wild Card Round, the Vikings will once again be faced with a tough offensive squad on the other side of the ball in the Divisional Round this weekend, taking on 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and company.

Minnesota will also have its hands full when it comes to being able to operate on offense itself, with San Francisco containing one of the top defensive groups in the NFL this year.

Will the Vikings be able to once again go on the road and upset a higher seed to continue its cinderella-type run in the playoffs this year? We will see how that all unfolds on Saturday evening at San Francisco in the NFC Divisional Round this weekend.