Coming off of their Week 1 victory over the New York Giants, the Minnesota Vikings head home to U.S. Bank Stadium for their next two games, the first of which will come this Sunday afternoon as they host the defending NFC Champions, the San Francisco 49ers.

The Vikings and the Niners faced off at U.S. Bank Stadium last year, as the purple pulled off an upset on Monday Night Football against a 49ers squad that didn’t have offensive tackle Trent Williams or wide receiver Deebo Samuel. Both of those players will be back in the fold for Kyle Shanahan’s team on Sunday.

San Francisco has not yet played their season opener, as they take on the New York Jets this evening on Monday Night Football. The Vikings, on the other hand, looked incredibly impressive on Sunday afternoon against New York’s other team, as they sacked Daniel Jones six times and kept the New York Giants out of the end zone for four quarters in a 28-6 victory, their largest win since December of 2019.

As things stand right now, the Niners come into this one as a 5.5-point favorite according to our friends at FanDuel. That’s slightly less than they were favored by when these teams met last season.

Kickoff for this one is slated for noon Central time on Sunday, 15 August, with coverage being provided by CBS.

We’ll have all of our coverage of this week’s game here in one place for you, so keep this thread bookmarked and refresh it frequently for the latest on this week’s contest.

A Florida family has shown immense support for the San Francisco 49ers ever since rookie linebacker Tatum Bethune joined the team.

Bethune was the Niners’ 251 draft pick, and his mom, Shavon Bethune, flew all the way from Miami to cheer her son on in the team’s opener against the New York Jets on Monday.

“I’m excited. I want him to do his best. We always have this little thing we say, ‘Go make them remember your name. You have been doing this since you were a little boy, so make them remember your name,’” she said.

The Florida State University alumnus was drafted in the seventh round. Before playing as a Seminole, Bethune played three seasons at the University of Central Florida, where he recorded 185 tackles, 4.5 sacks, three interceptions, and two forced fumbles over 35 games.

In his final season at FSU, he led the team with 71 tackles. In the 2023 season, he also recorded 38 assists, 33 solo tackles, an interception, and three passes defended. By the end of the regular season, he was named Third-Team All-ACC.

The rookie linebacker started his football career at just 4-years-old. Now, his mom is collecting everything she can with her son’s name on it.

“I’m here to cheer on my son, Tatum Bethune. This is his first NFL game Monday night lights,” Shavon said.

The 49ers’ first game comes a little over a week since first-draft pick Ricky Pearsall was shot in an attempted robbery in San Francisco’s Union Square.

The robbery sparked commentary from city officials pledging to hold the shooter accountable and up safety measures.

The Niners’ season debut also comes amid a controversial tailgating policy.

The new policy, dubbed directed parking, would allow parking lot attendants to direct cars to the next available parking spot. The team said it hopes the new policy will help with “reducing congestion, improved safety, enhanced accessibility, time savings and improved traffic.”

Since the policy’s announcement, over 3,600 fans have signed a Change.org petition saying the policy would make it harder for groups to park near one another and that its implementation is a sign of poor communication between the Niners and fans,

Despite the recent events and controversies, Bethune’s family said they plan to be the loudest cheerers at Monday’s game.

“Tomorrow, I am going to be the loudest cheerer for Tatum,” said Ayden Smith, Bethune’s cousin.

Andrew Mendez and Robert Handa contributed to this report.

The San Francisco Giants have played better in their last two games and still hold a glimmer of hope in the National League Wild Card. Still, it’s unlikely that the Giants will make the playoffs, barring anything drastic happening over the next three weeks.

As the season comes to a close, the front office needs to assess the campaign. While there’s been some good, much of the year has been a disappointment.

The front office can blame their injuries, lack of luck, or anything else, but the fact of the matter is that San Francisco wasn’t good enough.

That seemed obvious a few months ago. However, they were still in the mix to make the postseason via the Wild Card, so they didn’t sell at the deadline.

Does the Giants front office regret that a month and a half later? Perhaps so.

With Blake Snell, the chances of returning a top-100 prospect, or even two, seemed likely at the time. Prices at the deadline were outrageous, and if he had been dealt, there wouldn’t have been much debate that he would’ve been the best pitcher moved.

A missed opportunity, especially if he leaves in free agency this winter, which many around the industry expect.

An issue, even a big one, that Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report believes San Francisco “wishes” they could go back and fix.

“There were rumors ahead of the deadline that the G-Men might be willing to move Snell and his massive player option for 2025, but it didn’t happen. Since the beginning of July, he has made 11 starts with a 1.42 ERA, including a no-hitter against the Reds. Some lot of good it’s done the Giants, though, who have played .500 baseball since the beginning of July and are now as good as dead in the wild-card race.”

Hindsight is 20/20, and obviously, if the Giants knew they’d struggle after the deadline, they wouldn’t have decided to keep him.

At the time, it seemed to be the right thing to do. The rotation was getting healthy, they were playing better, and they had the veteran talent to do the job. Instead, they fell on their faces.

With the offseason approaching, a lot needs to be done. After not moving Snell, hopefully, one of those things is bringing him back.

It remains to be seen, but his free agency will be one of the more intriguing situations around baseball this winter.