49ers-Vikings Rankings

49ers Total Offense: 20
Vikings Total Offense: 17

49ers PASSING Offense: 22
Vikings PASSING Offense: 14

49ers RUSHING Offense: 10
Vikings RUSHING Offense: 18

49ers Total Defense: 31
Vikings Total Offense: 12

49ers RUN Defense: 22
Vikings RUN Defense: 2

49ers PASS Defense: 31
Vikings PASS Defense: 26

Strictly looking at the rankings, Gore will face a stiff challenge. If Frank can repeat last week's performance (with about 10 more carries), he will clearly continue his climb into the elite rank of running backs.

If Gore gets shutdown, the rankings would indicate the Vikings pass defense can be exploited. However, a closer examination shows that it's not quite as bad as yards per game would indicate. Using the Football Outsiders' Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA), the Minnesota Vikings defense goes from #26 to #10. I'll go into the Football Outsiders a little more down the road, but suffice to say, they show the Vikings defense as much better than the numbers indicate.