Nick Bosa stars in win over Vikings as his stellar rookie season turns to NFC Championship
Nick Bosa burst up field, pushed aside the hands of backup Vikings tackle Rashod Hill, dipped his shoulder and whiffed on sacking quarterback Kirk Cousins as he slid up in the pocket. But Bosa, a rookie who’s become known for his relentlessness, changed directions quickly and wrapped up the Vikings signal caller for his first postseason sack.
The 49ers were up big in the fourth quarter and Levi’s Stadium was in a frenzy. But a hush came over the crowd when Bosa didn’t get up right away. After all, the one knock on the No. 2 pick in the draft was his durability after he missed the majority of his final college season with a core muscle injury.
Pass rusher Dee Ford landed on Bosa as he brought Cousins to the ground. Bosa’s teammates surrounded him by taking a knee, which is often a sign of a significant injury.
Then the fans began chanting “Bosa, Bosa, Bosa” and he rose to his feet, put his hands in the air and starting nodding. Bosa was fine — and the crowd erupted and he began celebrating another third-down sack with his teammates on his way back to the sideline.
“I was just trying to get my breath back initially,” Bosa said. “Then they told me to stay down for a second.
“Then I heard the chants. I had to get up then. It was a really cool moment.”
Bosa stands out in playoff debut
Bosa had the wind knocked out of him and wound up staying in the game. His head coach playfully jabbed at the budding star for taking his time to get up after losing his breath.
“I thought he sat there and milked his injury for a little bit longer just to hear the crowd chant his name,” coach Kyle Shanahan said.
Bosa’s first career playoff game was a good one. He finished with two sacks, six tackles, three quarterback hits, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup. He was arguably San Francisco’s best defensive player in a resurgent defensive performance in the 27-10 throttling of the Vikings that put the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game next Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
Minnesota managed just 147 yards of offense and seven first downs. The Vikings had seven possessions where they didn’t gain a first down.
Bosa led the way for a defensive line that finished with six sacks overall, their most since thumping Carolina in October when they had seven. And like that game, the 49ers controlled things with the running game.
They ran the ball a season-high 47 times for 186 yards, playing the same brand of complementary football they did during their 8-0 start to the regular season before shootouts became customary later in the year.
“When you just see the way the defense is playing it makes it so much easier to stay with that,” Shanahan said. “I think our whole team kind of fed off of it.”
49ers are healthy with Alexander back
The 49ers got three defensive starters back in the lineup which paid significant dividends. Ford got his first action in over a month after dealing with a balky hamstring injury. Linebacker Kwon Alexander brought his signature energy back to the middle of the defense and flew around in a rotational role at linebacker.
Safety Jaquiski Tartt locked things up in the secondary while Cousins managed just 87 passing yards by the midway point in the fourth quarter, when the result had been decided.
“They give us so much energy,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said of the defense. “When I just see that pocket collapse and offensive linemen just in the lap of their quarterback, it’s just a huge energy boost and gets you motivated to go out there on the next drive and just impose our will.”
The 49ers ended the regular season with five straight games that came down to the wire. But Saturday’s game felt over once running back Tevin Coleman scored his second rushing touchdown of the game in the third quarter to make it 24-10.
Tight end George Kittle had the least-productive showing in the passing game this season with three catches for 16 yards. But he was crucial in the running game as him and Juszczyk controlled the edges against Minnesota’s talented defense.
The offensive line responded to the defense’s dominance and fired off the ball in the running game. The 49ers averaged 4.0 yards per carry even while the Vikings expected it by loading the box with nine players throughout the afternoon.
“Those guys get fired up, man,” quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo said. “You can see it in the huddle. As you’re calling the play, and it’s a run play, their eyes light up. They get excited. I love it when those guys are just teeing off like that. It’s fun. Makes my job very easy.”
Garoppolo had a season-low 19 pass attempts, including a bad interception to All-Pro linebacker Eric Kendricks at the end of the first half that led to a Minnesota field goal. Garoppolo’s 74.7 passer rating marked the third time in the past eight weeks his rating was below 110.
But it didn’t matter. The Vikings’ talented defensive front was flummoxed by the 49ers rushing attack to the point where the 49ers offense could notice.
“There was a point in the second half, you could definitely feel it,” Garoppolo said. “There was a little bit of arguing by them. They weren’t getting aligned very quickly. You could definitely feel that. We just tried to take advantage of it.”
Bosa gets a chance to shine on big stage
Back to the defense, Richard Sherman recorded his third career postseason interception. It led to the eight-play touchdown drive that was capped by Coleman’s second score. From there, Bosa and the 49ers’ potent defensive line played like they did when they were healthy during the first half of the regular season.
“Man, I feel like I didn’t even have to play a game, honestly,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “We ran a lot of man coverage on third down and let the big boys up front go eat.”
Bosa, Arik Armstead, Ford, DeForest Buckner and Solomon Thomas all recorded sacks. For Bosa, Saturday’s performance was a snapshot of what he means to San Francisco’s defense when all the other parts around him are playing at maximum levels.
Left tackle Joe Staley saw Bosa early in training camp before he was shut down for all of August with a high ankle sprain. Since then, Bosa answered questions about his durability by not missing a game this season. Bosa quickly went from promising rookie to something far more since the start of the regular season.
“It’s just kind of expected now,” Staley said. “I think at first it was kind of shocking about how quickly he adapted to the NFL and how he was able to make a lot of talented tackles look silly, myself included. But now it’s just what he is and it’s expected. It’s who he’s been his whole life. I don’t think he got ‘turned up’ for a playoff game. It’s just what he does. He goes out there and dominates. So expect him to do the same next week.”
Next week, of course, will be the NFC Championship Game, where the Bosa and the 49ers will have a chance for a trip to the Super Bowl.
This story was originally published January 11, 2020 at 7:48 PM.
