San Francisco 49ers: The good, bad, and ugly in week one loss to the Vikings

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN – SEPTEMBER 09: Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers is sacked by Everson Griffen #97 of the Minnesota Vikings in the first quarter of the game at U.S. Bank Stadium on September 9, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images) /

Ugly: Turnovers

It’s hard enough to win in this league when you play a solid game. So, it makes winning that much harder – if not impossible – to win when you shoot yourself in the foot over and over again.

San Francisco 49ers /

San Francisco 49ers

It’s tough to win when you turn the ball over. Especially when you turn it over a lot. It’s even tougher when you turn the ball over against a team that’s good top to bottom like Minnesota. They will make you pay for your errors every single time.

Against the Vikings, San Francisco turned the ball over four times – and got just one takeaway, giving them a negative three on the day. Which – isn’t good.

In addition to Garoppolo’s three picks, running back Alfred Morris coughed the ball up on the one-yard line, which obviously killed a prime scoring opportunity – something the 49ers didn’t get a lot of against Minnesota. And even when they did, they couldn’t make good on them.

There is a direct correlation to be made between winning and turnovers. Teams that don’t turn the ball over a lot – and get plenty of takeaways of their, as well – tend to come out on the right side of the win-loss column far more often than the other teams who wind up on the wrong side of the turnover differential.

This is a team that’s absolutely improving, but still can’t afford to be giving the hall away all willy-nilly. They need to tighten up the turnover situation, and they need to do it quickly.