Vikings at 49ers: Purple Jesus Might Outscore the 49ers By Himself

To get you ready for Week 14, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is your Minnesota Vikings/San Francisco 49ers preview.

2007 Records:

Minnesota Vikings: 6-6 (2nd in NFC North)
San Francisco 49ers: 3-9 (3rd in NFC West)

Last Game(s):

Vikings 42, Lions 10
Panthers 31, 49ers 14

Why We Care: Nobody really gave the Vikings much of a chance before the season, and they seemed to justify that lack of faith early in the season (despite Adrian Peterson's better attempts). But they've won three in a row and four of their last five. They've got the most exciting young player in the league right now, a great run game, and a strong defense. That's a formula for playoff success -- if the Vikings can continue this momentum into the postseason, they could surprise a team or two.

When the Vikings have the ball: Best run game in the league, 31st passing attack. Such is life when you've got Tavaris Jackson and Peterson on your team. It doesn't matter that the 49ers have just the 20th-best passing defense in the league, the Vikings just need to give the ball to AP and Chester Taylor. Besides, the 49ers' rush defense is 27th. This isn't a terribly difficult formula. Though in the 49ers defense, they're only allowing 3.8 yards per carry on the ground, indicating that the poor run defense stats are due to teams getting a lead and then hitting the ground. Still, that doesn't give me any more faith they can stop the Vikings two-headed assault and their five-man maul unit of an offensive line. The best they can hope for is to take advantage of a mistake or two by Jackson, though that's having a lot of faith in a secondary with just 10 interceptions on the year.

When the 49ers have the ball: Trent Dilfer gets bailed out slightly this week because of Erasmus James' torn ACL. On top of that, Ray Edwards, the Vikes' sack leader, is out because of a suspension. Still, it hasn't proven difficult to slice through the 49ers offensive line this year, and the Vikes do have 31 sacks on the season. Otherwise, this is interesting. The 49ers rank in the bottom five in every major offensive statistic, but the Vikings are dead last in passing defense (though their young corners are improving rapidly). Of course, they've got the stingiest run defense in the league. They've allowed just 70.5 yards per game on the ground, but they might actually lower that average this week -- Frank Gore's been about as effective this season as Ricky Williams.

The Edge: The Vikings are making a serious push for a postseason run, and the 49ers season is over. Minnesota has everything coming together at the right time, and they're playing for too much to let this game get away from them.