The Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers are playing the second Monday night football game in Week 1 and the matchup from Levi's Stadium starts at 10:15 pm ET and is on TV from ESPN and streaming on the WatchESPN website. The game has Adrian Peterson making his return to the Vikings, while the Niners will try and bounce back with tons of changes coming this offseason.
The Vikings have high expectations for the season and a lot of that is riding on Peterson, who missed 15 games last year while dealing with off the field issues. Peterson comes back after a long layoff and he said he is ready to go at full strength. The last time Peterson played a full season he rushed for 1266 yards and he is looking for another big year for the Vikings. Teddy Bridgewater is thrilled to have him back and so are the Vikings.
The Niners were one of the top teams in the NFC just a couple years ago, but last season was a mess and that brought on some major changes. Jim Harbaugh is now in Michigan and there was a ton of roster turnover. Carlos Hyde is now the starter with Frank Gore gone, while Torrey Smith is stepping in for Michael Crabtree after he signed with the Raiders. The Niners are usually good on MNF and ESPN reports that the team has won seven games in a row on Monday night.
Peterson has usually been strong in debut games and after having 75 yards in his lone game last season, Peterson will be looking to have another good performance here. Peterson is coming in ahead of Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata on the depth chart and that should give the Vikings some solid options to keep Peterson fresh. Those two got plenty of experience last season and now Bridgewater gets a vet running back behind him as he comes into year two with Norv Turner.
ESPN reports that Colin Kaepernick is 4-0 in his career on Monday night football games and that bodes well for him in the matchup. Kaep has also been very good throwing the ball in those games, as he has not thrown a pick yet in those four games and has nine touchdowns in that span. The Vikings finished with seven wins last season and that was actually above expectations for many after Peterson missed time.
Bridgewater came in after a couple games with Matt Cassel and did not look back and he had 14 TDs and nearly 3000 yards passing last season. Bridgewater showed he has the chance to be the real deal and now he comes into year two with his HOF running back ready to go and it could mean a big season for the Vikings.
Check here for the Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers Live Coverage from ESPN.
Check here for the play-by-play, stats and updates from the game on MNF.