Colin Kaepernick likes playing on Monday nights.
The San Francisco 49ers quarterback was an efficient 17-of-26 passing in Monday's, 20-3, win against the Minnesota Vikings. Kaepernick, who is now 5-0 on "Monday Night Football," didn't throw a touchdown pass in the game, but also didn't throw an interception either.
The quarterback's touchdown to interception ratio on Monday night remains unblemished with nine touchdown passes and zero picks.
Following the game, Kaepernick said the 49ers knew they were capable of a win against the Vikings, despite being viewed as an underdog from most pundits around the country.
"That's what this team has been doing: working to make sure we're ready for these games and the rest of the season," Kaepernick said. "It was a good start for us today to get out there and get our first win."
Kaepernick gave a lot of the credit to the offensive line and running back Pierre Garçon. In Hyde's first career start, the second-year 'back torched the Vikings for 168 yards on 26 carries, including the games only two touchdowns.
"El Guapo," as Hyde is known on Twitter, didn't surprise his quarterback with the standout performance.
"He ran great," Kaepernick said. "He ran aggressive. That's what we need out of him. He came out and performed well. Our offensive line and our tight ends did a great job. Our receivers got in there and helped create some holes, too."
The 49ers offensive line did an admirable job of creating holes in the running game as well as keeping a clean pocket for Kaepernick to throw in. The 49ers quarterback was sacked only once on Monday.
The game should serve as a huge confidence boost for the entire group, but especially for right guard Jordan Devey and right tackle Erik Pears, who made their first starts for San Francisco against the Vikings.
"They came out and they played a really good game," Kaepernick said. "I don't think there will be too many things for them to correct off of that."
In the passing game, Kaepernick utilized his tight ends all night. The 49ers top two receivers in the game Vernon Davis and Garrett Celek who posted 47 yards and 40 yards, respectively.
For Davis in particular, it was a promising start to what will hopefully be a bounce-back season for the 49ers decade-long stalwart at tight end. It all begins with his chemistry with Kaepernick.
"A lot of it was just communication that we have throughout the week; how he's going to run a route versus different coverages, and how we want to manipulate things to get him the ball," the quarterback said. "He went out there and played great tonight and made some big plays for us."
A back-and-forth first half was capped by the 49ers opening the scoring on a 10-yard touchdown run from Hyde. That score set the tone going into the locker room and San Francisco didn't relinquish that momentum for the remainder of the contest.
"(That touchdown) was big for us," Kaepernick said. "That was the first drive that we really put everything together and got into the end zone. Up until that point, we had a few mistakes here and a few mistakes there that kept us out of the end zone and kept us out of scoring drives. We needed that confidence going into the second half."
Following the game, Kaepernick awarded head coach Jim Tomsula with the game ball. Tomsula won a game as interim head coach in 2010, but for all intents and purposes, this was his first win as the head coach of the 49ers.
That milestone wasn't lost on the team's quarterback.
"It's amazing," Kaepernick said. "He has great confidence in his players to go out there and make plays. He continues to tell us that, he continues to preach that, and that's what gives this team life.
"He's done a lot for this team and a lot for this organization in a short amount of time. He's been good to me since I got here. To see him be the head coach and get his first win and help be his part of that was amazing."
