Game Summary
The NFL’s only battle between a pair of 2-0 teams lived up to its billing, as the Vikings needed nearly every second of their home opener to defeat the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 27-24 on Sunday and improve to 3-0.
The winning play came with just 2 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter when WR 
San Francisco took a 24-20 lead with 8:17 to play when former Viking Shaun Hill hit TE Vernon Davis for a 20-yard score. The 49ers appeared to have the game in hand when they stopped the Vikings on a 4th down play with just 1:49 to play.
But armed with 3 timeouts, the Vikings defense took the field and held the 49ers offense to 3 plays on the following series. That forced San Francisco to punt the ball away.
Favre and Co. took possession with 1:29 to play and the ball on the 20-yardline. Completions on 3 of the next 4 plays got Minnesota to their 41-yardline, where Favre killed the clock with a spike. Then Favre hit Harvin for 15 yards and Berrian for 9 more, pushing the Vikings to San Francisco’s 39-yardline with only 12 seconds remaining.
And that’s when this play happened, giving the Vikings the winning 27-24 margin and putting the Metrodome into a frenzy as Favre notched the 42nd game winning/tying drive of his career (most among active players).
It was over when…
The referees determined following official review that Lewis caught Favre’s pass, controlled the ball through the catch and to the ground and was able to get both of his feet in bounds before falling out of bounds.
Highlights
-- Lewis’ 32-yard TD grab in the back of the endzone clinched one of the most dramatic Vikings victories in recent memory. Lewis was acquired back on September 10 and was inactive for the Vikings first 2 games. In his 1st game as an active member of the Vikings, Lewis certainly ingratiated himself with his teammates and Vikings fans.
-- Harvin has continued his impressive string of games during his debut season. His 101-yard kickoff return for a TD sparked the Vikings in the 2nd half and kept his team in the game after San Francisco had scored 17 of the game’s previous 20 points. Harvin is now averaging 35.8 yards per kickoff return and has a TD in each of his first 3 regular season games.
-- The Vikings defense held San Francisco to just 58 yards rushing on 26 attempts, averaging out to just 2.2 yards per carry.
-- Vikings RB
-- In his 1st regular season game back at the Metrodome since early in the 2008 season, Vikings LB
-- The Vikings ran 75 offensive plays, compared to just 52 offensive snaps for the 49ers. The Vikings also enjoyed a 32:09 to 27:51 time of possession advantage.
-- A stingy Vikings defense and raucous home crowd held San Francisco to a miserable 0-11 on 3rd downs. The Vikings, meanwhile, were 10 of 20 on 3rd down conversions.
A couple of things to work on…
-- Penalties were a thorn in the Vikings side on Sunday. They had 9 penalties enforced against them for a total of 52 yards.
-- The blocked FG try late in the 1st half got San Francisco back in the game, and in fact gave them a lead heading into the locker room at halftime. We’ll wait to hear Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress say specifically where something went wrong on that play, but nonetheless it’s something that will be corrected this week.
-- The Vikings defense notched just 1.0 sack on the afternoon. When Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers come to town next week for a Monday Night Football showdown, the Vikings will want to have their pass rush humming.
What they were saying…
You’ve heard what Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress, Favre and Lewis all had to say during their press conferences following the game, but here’s what a few other Vikings were saying in the locker room after the Vikings thrilling Week 3 win:
-- “This was a statement. Everybody was saying that we had lost a step in the run game, and that we were 15th in the run. Today we just tried to cut that in half. We’ll work on that more next week. I think we did a good job against the run today and forced them to pass.” – DT
-- “He’s (Greg Lewis) been in this league for a long time and done a lot of great things. He is a very capable receiver. To get open in the right place in the right time; it was great concentration and a great catch. Unbelievable.” – LB
-- “It was fun; it was exciting the whole way. Everybody just believing that we have a chance to win the game as long as everybody does their job and take care of business.” – RT
-- “3-0 is 3-0 but the thing is we could go 3-13. We still have to keep on working. This was a hard-fought victory. We’re glad to beat a hard team like that because they came in here to play. They are not the same team from last year and they showed that today.” – TE
