Golden Nuggets: Bring on the Vikings

The wildcard round is over and the Minnesota Vikings will travel to Santa Clara next Saturday to face our 49ers. An outstanding defensive performance made up for a shaky Kirk Cousins and kept Drew Brees from getting into rhythm. While I think the road to the Super Bowl is a lot easier with the New Orleans Saints eliminated, Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen should not be underestimated. Lucky for us, our defense is expected to be near full strength with the expected return of Dee Ford, Jaquiski Tartt, and Kwon Alexander.

Speaking of getting lucky, the Seattle Seahawks beat another team that was missing a key player after Carson Wentz left due to injury in the 1st quarter. I’m sure I’m not alone in wondering when their luck will run out. I mean, it’s kind of ridiculous at this point. Oh well, if the Green Bay Packers can’t beat them, our 49ers will.

On to those links...

• NFL playoffs: Key 49ers-Vikings matchups in NFC divisional-round game (Matt Maiocco, NBC Sports)
• Vikings Open as Seven-Point Underdogs For Saturday’s Game Against 49ers (Will Ragatz, Sports Illustrated)
• 49ers’ George Kittle views NFL playoffs as another chance to have fun (Matt Maiocco, NBC Sports)
• 49ers regular-season awards (Kyle Madson, Niners Wire)
• Kirk Cousins resurrects ‘You like that?!’ yell after Vikings’ NFL playoff win (Brian Witt, NBC Sports)
• NFL rumors: 49ers’ Kwon Alexander ‘on track’ to play playoff opener (Matt Maiocco, NBC Sports)

Around the league...

• NFL playoff brackets 2020: Schedule, times, dates, streaming info, TV for every round of NFC, AFC postseason (John Breech, CBS Sports)
• Source: Cowboys focused on proven NFL coach to replace Jason Garrett (Chris Mortensen, ESPN)
• 2020 NFL Draft order: Where the Patriots, Saints, Eagles and Bills will pick in the first round (R.J. White, CBS Sports)
• Questionable 2019 NFL playoff officiating decisions: What happened, which were right (Kevin Seifert, ESPN)
• The Winners and Losers of NFL Wild-Card Weekend (Rodger Sherman, The Ringer)

... I have spoken