Vikings takeaway No. 5
Moving the chains seemed easy.
This season, it has felt like the Minnesota Vikings have struggled to pick up first downs or convert on third or fourth downs. Neither of those seemed to be a problem for the offense against the 49ers on Monday night.
Minnesota converted eight of their 13 tries on third down and picked up 24 first downs. It's kind of strange that the Vikings had the same number of first downs from running the ball as they did from penalties (three each).
If you would have told Vikings fans coming into this game that Minnesota would win the time of possession battle by nearly ten minutes, most would have probably been surprised since the 49ers are known to run the ball well and have a strong defense.
Several Vikings pass-catchers seemed fired up for this game. Brandon Powell, T.J. Hockenson, and Jordan Addison all played like they had something to prove and that's why they got 27 of the team's 43 targets.