The good, the bad and the ugly from the Vikings’ loss to the 49ers

The Vikings did not look great against the 49ers, but the game still came down to the very end.

Minnesota QB Kirk Cousins failed to find Vikings WR Justin Jefferson over the middle on fourth down. After that, the 49ers kneeled out the game, which put an end to Minnesota’s win streak.

Now, the Vikings are 5-6 and have to try and figure out what went wrong. Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from the game:

The good: Kene Nwangwu

Photo: Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports

Nwangwu returned his second kickoff for a touchdown on Sunday. The speedy rookie could be looking at more running back reps with Dalvin Cook expected to miss two games. Sadly for Vikings fans, this is definitely the most positive takeaway.

The bad: the offense

Photo: Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports

The Vikings offense has carried them to wins this year, but that was not the case on Sunday. Minnesota scored 26 points, 7 of which came on a special teams touchdown. The team also had just 323 total yards. Sure, Dalvin Cook getting injured did not help, but this team has to do better.

The ugly: the run defense

Photo: AP Photo/Tony Avelar

Let’s cut the Vikings some slack here: this team was missing all of its starting defensive linemen from the game. Minnesota needed some relatively inexperienced players to step up. The Vikings got pummeled by the 49ers ground game: San Francisco finished with 208 rushing yards.

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