Yes, Kevin O’Connell & Co. came out in week one and absolutely destroyed the New York Giants. Nobody can take that away from us. But the defending Super Bowl runner-ups are a far superior team to the G-Men.

They proved as much in week one, when they invited the better New York football team to the west coast, just to stomp them in front of the entire world, on Monday Night Football. Can the Vikings hang with the Niners? How about a victory and 2-0 start to the 2024 season?

Old friend Kevin Harlan on the call for Minnesota Vikings vs San Francisco 49ers

It won’t be easy, but the purple will be at home, in front of an absolutely rabid U.S. Bank Stadium crowd for the first time this season. Plus, San Fran may be without defending Offensive Player of the Year, Christian McCaffrey.

But no matter what happens on the field, fans can be happy about one thing, come noon on Sunday. There will be no complaints about the TV broadcast, on CBS.

The Minnesota Vikings vs San Francisco 49ers TV play-by-play announcer will be none other than old friend, and future HOF voice, Kevin Harlan, the best in the business. Former NFL QB Trent Green will be on color commentary.

Game announcers for Week 2 of the @NFLonCBS, with a national doubleheader highlighted by Bengals-Chiefs pic.twitter.com/I6bQ0BRWL4

— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) September 9, 2024

Welcome back to Minnesota, Mr. Harlan

Not only is Harlan the best in the business, but the kids may not know how important he is to the history of Minnesota sports. One of Harlan’s earliest big time jobs was as the every-game play-by-play voice of the Timberwolves, from the time they came into the NBA (1989), all the way until 1998.

Related: George Kittle Spills Beans on Christian McCaffrey’s Injury Status vs Vikings

As a kid who was born the same year as the Timberwolves, my earliest basketball fan memories are watching Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury, narrated by Kevin Harlan. Back then, he was a local treasure. Now, he’s a national one. Any time we land him on a Minnesota sports call, it brings half of the fanbase back to that decade when he was (kind of) one of us.

He is one of the most recognisable voices in the NBA, but before he gained national acclaim on CBS & TNT, Kevin Harlan belonged to Timberwolves fans.

This is a fun look back at his 9 seasons doing play-by-play in Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/63Up00ZUNV

— Hoops Nostalgia (@HoopsNostalgia) May 22, 2024

Well, lucky for everyone who clicked into this blog or was listening to “The Big Game” on the radio, that’s exactly what happened on Sunday night when the Kansas City Chiefs were getting stomped by Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Kevin Harland is such a legend.

Kevin Harlan absolutely nailed the streaker call pic.twitter.com/b39wmGTiG2

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) February 8, 2021

On TV, nobody got to see the Super Bowl streaker. Instead, we got 30 seconds of Tom Brady watching the half naked man run toward the end zone. Having Kevin Harlan narrate after-the-fact is a worthy consolation.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan