The San Francisco 49ers were looking for an emphatic response to their first defeat of the season. The reply they produced in the first half against the Minnesota Vikings was not satisfactory.

San Francisco, despite missing both Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel through injury, went into the Monday Night Football Clash as seven-point favorites.

That status looked severely misplaced as the Niners went into the half trailing 10-7, putting them at risk of an extremely damaging in-conference loss.

49ers rue yet more missed opportunities

For the 49ers' offense, the first half was very similar to the opening two quarters in last week's defeat to the Cleveland Browns.

San Francisco wasted several chances to take a commanding first-half lead against Cleveland, and the Niners were left to rue missed opportunities in the first half here. 

The primary one came on the first possession as Christian McCaffrey, playing after shaking off an oblique injury, fumbled in the red zone after a Charvarius Ward interception gave the 49ers on the ball on the Minnesota 48-yard line.

On their second possession, the Niners drove to the Vikings' 22-yard line, only for a third-down throw to Jauan Jennings to fall incomplete and lead to yet another missed field goal from Jake Moody.

Defense struggles for stops

Despite only allowing 19 points to the Browns, the 49ers were not happy with their defensive effort in Week 6, particularly against the run, and their issues in that regard continued against a Minnesota offense that had struggled to run the ball this season.

The Vikings averaged 5.8 yards carry on the ground in the first half, with Minnesota seemingly able to do whatever it wanted against one of the most feared defenses in the NFL.

Minnesota averaged 7.8 yards per play in the first half, with the defense having severe problems getting off the field when the Vikings were behind the sticks.

The Vikings were allowed to complete on 3rd and 12 from their own nine-yard line after the McCaffrey fumble, going on to score on an 89-yard drive.

Minnesota's field goal drive saw the Vikings keep the drive alive despite facing second and 24 on the San Francisco 46-yard line, the Niners tacking on that drive called into severe question.

An awful half for the defense was rounded off in the closing seconds of the first half as Jordan Addison, having had the ball taken away from him by Ward on the earlier interception, returned the favor on a remarkable touchdown to give the Vikings a nine-point advantage.

Purdy on track for bounce back

From an individual perspective, the first half was an excellent one for 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, who looked excellent a week after his worst performance as San Francisco's starting quarterback.

Purdy demonstrated excellent poise under pressure, tremendous anticipation and, save for a high throw to George Kittle, impressive accuracy.

The Niners' signal-caller also displayed his outstanding rapport with Brandon Aiyuk, who caught all five of his targets for 57 yards.

Purdy's performance was finally rewarded with points when McCaffrey plunged in for a three-yard touchdown, marking his 16th successive game (including the playoffs) with a score. That is an NFL record from scrimmage and puts McCaffrey one shy of the overall record held by Lenny Moore.

49ers inactives for Week 7, at Vikings

The NFL’s rushing leader is active as expected.