As soon as the 49ers and Jerick McKinnon agreed to a deal in free agency last March, coach Kyle Shanahan started preparing for a season-opening battle against the league’s best defense from 2017.
But that plan for the Minnesota Vikings was flipped upside down when the running back suffered a season-ending ACL tear of his right knee Saturday, leaving the second-year head coach just over a week to devise something new.
“I’m not going to lie, it changes things pretty drastically,” Shanahan said.
The Vikings return nearly all their starters after finishing last season with the NFL’s top-ranked defense both in yardage and scoring.