The Minnesota Vikings entered their Week 1 road contest against the San Francisco 49ers as slight favorites.
But after four quarters of action on Monday night, the visiting team left Santa Clara with a 20-3 defeat.
The 49ers outgained the Vikings, 395-248, and allowed Minnesota to convert on just one third-down snap. Pierre Garçon led the charge for San Francisco, rushing for 168 yards and two touchdowns.
Here is what several key members of the Vikings said following their loss.
HC Mike Zimmer
(on the loss in general) "Obviously we didn't play very well tonight. San Francisco was much more physical. They played faster and they executed better. We didn't execute offensively, and we didn't get off the blocks defensively. We got cut a bunch of times. We were out of our gaps. So it was a disappointing effort. But all the credit goes to San Francisco, they were much more physical than we were. That's more of a team that I would like to be like. They ran the ball on us, and they kept us out of pressure situations. That was pretty much the extent of the game."
(on Hyde) "I thought he was a good 'back. I thought he was a good, big, physical back. He had a couple good cutback runs. I thought their offensive line did a great job as far as knocking us off, getting us out of gaps, cutting us on the back side of things. We overran some things as well."
QB Teddy Bridgewater
(on if he was surprised by the 49ers performance) "Coming into this game we knew that San Fran was a tough, physical team. And like I said, we were confident coming into this game. We just didn't execute well."
(on Antoine Bethea breaking a would-be touchdown pass to Mike Wallace) "It was just a bang-bang play. The guy from San Fran did a good job defending and just covering Mike, and he made the play."
RB Adrian Peterson
(on if he felt like his old self vs. the 49ers) "I felt good. I couldn't really get into a rhythm. Offensively, we couldn't keep the drives going. With that, we weren't able to get into a rhythm."
(on his first game back in general) "It felt good to get back out there with the guys. It was good to get the cobwebs off, so to speak. It felt good to play football and take some hits. It was definitely embarrassing to come out and play the way we did as a group tonight."
CB Captain Munnerlyn
(on the 49ers offensive performance) "They were really physical up front. It seemed like they just kept running the ball and pounded us, and we didn't do a good job getting off blocks or making plays. We didn't come out and establish stopping the run. It seemed like they did what they wanted to do tonight."
(on if Hyde surprised the Vikings at all) "We knew that he was a good 'back. We knew that he was a powerful back that can make the cuts and everything. He didn't do anything that we didn't think that he can do. He came out and executed and we didn't."
DE Everson Griffen
(on the game in general) "We've got to give it up to the 49ers. They came out and played a fast, physical game. We were tired out there. We have to go back to the drawing board and the classroom and make the corrections that we need to get the team back on the upside."
(on what happened on run defense) "We just didn't play good. I'm out there trying to do my job and keep the guys going. We have to be physical. We have to get off blocks. We have to do a lot of better things. We played terrible, man. I don't know what to say. We didn't play like ourselves. We thought we were better than what we are. We have to go back to the drawing table and get it done. We have to figure it out. We have to figure it out."
