By Daisy Barringer

Sunday morning: 7:00 a.m. I wake up in my tent, head pounding, mouth dry, wanting to do pretty much anything but get out of my sleeping bag, pack up all of my camping stuff, and drive two+ hours back to the city. But I am a football fan first and foremost, hangovers and showers be damned. So I did just that, speeding up 101 North at 85 mph lest I miss even a second of the 49ers game.

It was going to be a good game, I told myself. We looked good against Green Bay, solid against Detroit, and everyone in the entire county was saying we were the team to beat.

Well congratulations Minnesota because you did just that. And you didn't just beat us. You dominated us. 24-13. We were outplayed in every single aspect of the game and every time we had an opportunity, we blew it.

Sigh.

Frankly, I'm not even really sure what to say about the game that you probably haven't repeated in your head for the last 24 hours.

Our offense? Terrible. TERRIBLE. Alex Smith overthrew Randy Moss twice, one of which would have been an easy touchdown. Sure he ultimately threw for 204 yards, but he also had a pick and a fumble. I'll take credit for the pick since I requested that you knock on my wood in my Friday preview, but failed to do it on my end. I won't however take credit for Frank Gore's fumble after he was so beautifully set up by Kyle Williams' punt return.

Our defense? Also pretty terrible. I honestly can't find one nice thing to say about them. Zero sacks, no pressure, missed tackles, holes in coverage, dropped INTs… They looked lethargic and downtrodden from the very first drive where they allowed Minnesota to set the tone with a 16-play touchdown drive.

Special teams? I mean, sure, they were okay. Andy Lee did his thing. But then Akers had the field goal blocked. The shining star of the day? Kyle Williams with two stellar kickoff returns. Bummer for him though, no one on offense was able to turn them into anything meaningful.

Coaching. Where was Jim Harbaugh? Don't get me wrong, I still want him to adopt me so that he can be the father I never had, but he blew it yesterday with that game plan, whatever it was, if there even was one. Definitely, as my friend said, worst game Harbaugh's had as a coach for the 49ers. Wholly disappointing from start to finish. Well except the part where he hypnotized the refs into giving us multiple challenges and time outs that we didn't have. That was impressive. Too bad no one could do anything with them.

Overall, a dismal performance from start to finish. One that had me cussing up a storm and cursing my existence.

(Note to my friends who feel they need to mock my passion for football every single Sunday: Stop. Seriously? Just stop. Sure I mock the fact that you go to Burning Man, but that's because that's actually lame. Plus, you don't even have to hear me screaming at the top of my lungs; all you have to see is feverish tweets and Facebook posts telling you my life is ruined. And it is. So just shhhhhhhhhh. Go back to coding or watching Star Trek or whatever it is you do on Sunday and leave those of us who have it figured out alone.)

I think I had every right to be devastated by yesterday's loss though. Because, sure, there are people who are going to try to spin this loss and say it was a good thing. A wake up call. A reminder that we can't get too confident. But I'm here to tell you that is total bullshit because there is no way a team should need a wake up call after just two weeks of football. Did the 49ers lose this game because they weren't worried about the Vikings? Because they felt like they had it in the bag? Because everyone's saying they're headed to the Super Bowl?

To say that implies that they're stupid. That they don't realize that football is played on the field, not in the papers. Our boys are smart. They're intense. They're talented. And they're not the type to give up without a fight. I don't think they phoned it in yesterday; I think they got outplayed by a team for whom they were not prepared, but who were very prepared for them. I don't think the Vikings are the better football team at all. But they played better football and on any given Sunday, that's all that matters.

Yesterday was one of those games I watched while covering my face and peeking out between my fingers. Every time something seemed to go our way, we blew it. Penalties, missed opportunities, turnovers, bad passes, you name it. It was painful. We looked tired. We looked unprepared. And we looked caught off guard.

If (when) we go out there next week and destroy the Jets, it won't be because we were reminded by the Vikings not to get too cocky. It will be because we truly do have the talent on all sides to play strong, dominant football. No one thought we were going to go 16-0. In fact, I have us (optimistically) at 12-4. Losing games is nearly always just part of football. But gosh, I wish that first loss didn't sting as bad as it does.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take my first shower in three days. I'm disgusting.