Struggling San Francisco 49ers drop second straight game !!

Struggling San Francisco 49ers drop second straight game

MINNEAPOLIS -- Just more than two weeks ago, the San Francisco 49ers were undefeated and the talk of the league after demolishing the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night football.

Inside the Niners' locker room after Monday night's sloppy 22-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, that game might as well have been two years ago. Among the 49ers' mistakes Monday: three turnovers, Minnesota's 60-yard touchdown just before halftime on a situationally rare all-out blitz and a missed 40-yard field goal.

The result was their second consecutive loss, something San Francisco hadn't experienced since this day one year ago, and an overwhelming sense that it had all come crashing back to Earth after a dominant 5-0 start.

"The NFL will humble you every step of the way," defensive end Nick Bosa said. "And getting off to a 5-0 start you kind of get that confidence that we are who we need to be, but the NFL does that. Good players, good schemes and we're going to face another good team this week, so we've got to be ready."

In order to turn it around, the Niners must find a way to pull out games like Monday's and last week's loss to the Cleveland Browns. In both contests, the Niners struggled to play the complementary football they did in the first five weeks but still had opportunities to win in the closing minutes.