49ers Vs Vikings Preview: San Francisco Getting Brief Respite?

The San Francisco 49ers have now knocked out what looked like two of their three most difficult matchups on paper, and will get something of a respite in Week 3. That isn't to say that you can pencil in a win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, it's just that they're clearly on a lower level than the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers.

San Francisco was in total control of both games thus far, winning handily in both, despite the relative closeness of the scores. Alex Smith has put up two strong performances, while the defense has been great outside of the final few minutes of games. All signs point to San Francisco coming out and beating a Vikings team that is 1-1 on the season, with a very narrow victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars and a close loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

If you've forgotten, the Jaguars and Colts were two of the NFL's worst teams a season ago. Indianapolis was the worst, in fact, and used that to their advantage with the selection of Andrew Luck, who played well in the 23-20 victory over Minnesota.

The Vikings sport an offense led by second-year quarterback Christian Ponder and powered by wide receiver Percy Harvin and running back Adrian Peterson. Unfortunately for them, San Francisco boasts the league' best run defense, so it will be down to Ponder to make things happen. It's not that he can't, it's just that the odds aren't in his favor. Even if San Francisco's defense regresses big time, it's hard to imagine that the Vikings can take advantage of it.

Stay tuned throughout the week as we bring you all the news and analysis you need, and get caught up by reading all we wrote on Week 2's matchup with the Detroit Lions.