All things considered, a pretty good night for the quarterback class of 2011 in San Francisco.
Christian Ponder’s stat line doesn’t jump off the page, but it was actually better than it looked.
The Vikings’ starter was 4-of-9 passing for 80 yards, leading a pair of field goal drives. But of the five incompletions, three were dropped, and the other two thrown away.
Ponder will benefit from experience and a full set of personnel, as rookie left tackle Matt Kalil was shaky early, and they’ll be without Adrian Peterson for a bit longer.
On the other side, 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick had an impressive start.
He took his second snap, and ran it 78 yards for a touchdown.
Those results are a much better sign for the Vikings, who need a more mature performance from Ponder to be anything other than bottom-feeders this year.