Minnesota Vikings vs 49ers in Week 1: The San Francisco perspective

3) Who is one player from the 49ers who Vikings fans may not be familiar with but should make a huge impact on the game?

Strong safety Jaquiski Tartt. The former Samford standout had a breakout year in 2017 before landing on injured reserve with a broken forearm. And the Niners are expecting big things out of him, but since the 49ers defense isn’t particularly viewed as elite, few probably know his name outside of the die-hard fans.

I’ll be curious to watch how well he holds up in coverage against the Vikings’ Kyle Rudolph this Sunday. Tartt showed excellent coverage abilities last year, starting off the season at free safety before dropping down in the box. It’s a role seemingly tailor made for him, and going up against Rudolph will be an excellent test right out of the gate.

4) The 49ers will get the first regular season look at Kirk Cousins as the Minnesota Vikings quarterback. What should San Francisco expect from him?

This might rub some Vikings fans the wrong way, but I wasn’t a big fan of the idea of the 49ers landing Kirk Cousins before Jimmy Garoppolo arrived. Granted, the context (play calling, supporting cast, scheme, etc.) was different in Washington than it is under Mike Zimmer now. But, to me, Cousins’ impressive stats cover up what I see on tape. He has that “gunslinger” mentality, and his receivers with the Redskins did a good job bailing him out with tough catches, which don’t show up the same way on the stat line. Plus Cousins takes a lot of unnecessary risks and winds up with plenty of those turnover-worthy throws.

He hasn’t been particularly effective in Week 1 contests either.

All that said, it helps Cousins has a supporting cast of wideouts Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, which are a pretty good one-two punch out of any in the league. Plus, the return of running back Dalvin Cook should establish a Vikings running game, and Cousins thrived in play action the past few years.

So I guess it’s a bit of a mixed back from Cousins, which is probably the frustrating part for his fans and why I wasn’t sold on the idea of him coming to S.F. Still, I’d imagine he’ll show off some of that new rapport with a quality of receivers he hasn’t had for a while now.