EAGAN, Minn. — What’s so interesting is the players’ reactions. The fans? You’d expect them to go nuts at all of the moving parts in coordinator Brian Flores’ defense. The opponents? You’d expect them to be bothered. But the players actually running the system? You’d expect them to provide clichés, pouring cold water on the idea that this defense is different from anything they’ve run before.
But they don’t.
Last year, veteran NFL linebacker Anthony Barr returned to Minnesota to play for the Vikings. He’d also played for Mike Zimmer, a well-respected defensive mind in his own right. Barr had lined up in different spots during his 10-year career. He’d rushed the passer, dropped back in coverage and been positioned on the edge. Still, when asked about Flores’ defense one afternoon at the TCO Performance Center, Barr shook his head.
“It’s wild,” he said.
But why? In what way? How could one coach’s scheme be so “wild” and unique in a league where coaches regularly copy and steal from one another? If Barr had been alone in his beliefs, it would have seemed like hyperbole.
But he is not alone. Last week, veteran Vikings cornerback Shaq Griffin was chatting with reporters at his locker. He knew the subject of Flores’ scheme would come up. That’s what happens when you shut down C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy in back-to-back weeks, you’re holding opponents to 10 points per game and are ranked as the No. 1 defense in the NFL, according to DVOA.
For the second week in a row, Brian Flores and the Vikings throttled what should be one of the best offenses in the league. @QBKlass and I talked about Minnesota’s 3-0 start and more from a chaotic Week 3 on The Athletic Football Show.
Full show: https://t.co/CuqLizDeny pic.twitter.com/Gv4AtNBHp6
— Robert Mays (@robertmays) September 23, 2024
“Oh man,” Griffin said, laughing. “How can I explain it? It’s different. It’s so different. I think Flo is crazy enough to run this type of scheme and make it work.”
So … different how? In what way? What is so different, and how are the Vikings seemingly the only defense capable of playing this way?
The answers to these questions might lie in a playbook the size of an extra-large binder. But even those pages, printed with all sorts of shapes and lines, would not do justice to what is happening and why.
Scripts don’t make movies great on their own. The actors matter. Some, for example, ad-lib better than others. The on-stage energy of some might pop for reasons that are sometimes impossible to pinpoint. If you could bottle up the secret sauce of some of the all-time great casts and replicate it, you would. But that’s easier said than done, even if the ingredients are sometimes obvious.
The Flores recipe starts with smart and physical players who love football. Smart so they can play different positions interchangeably without second-guessing. Physical so they can stop the run, wear down their opponents and force third-and-long situations. They must love football so they’re willing to play selflessly to maximize the defense as a whole — and to be pushed as far as Flores needs to push them to reach their ceiling.
“Even when we do good sometimes,” Vikings cornerback Stephon Gilmore said Monday, “he wants us to do great.”
GO DEEPER
Chaos and quicksand: Vikings defense using deception and daring in 3-0 start
The Vikings staff would not say this publicly, but even though Flores helped improve the defense from 2022 (24th in the NFL) to 2023 (11th), Minnesota needed more of the kinds of players Flores seeks. Finding them became one of the primary organizational goals this spring, and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, head coach Kevin O’Connell and company made this clear when they signed edge rushers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel and linebacker Blake Cashman in hours on the first day of free agency.
Injected with football intelligence and versatility, Flores and his staff then focused on spring workouts. Having personnel with distinctive traits is one way this defense is “wild” and “different,” but another is how the staff introduces players to the system. In the spring and summer, edge rushers learn defensive line and off-ball linebacker techniques. Off-ball linebackers practice as edge rushers. Cornerbacks train as safeties and vice-versa.
One example lies in an offseason drill the Vikings utilize involving trash cans. Staffers place five trash cans side by side to signify five offensive linemen. The defenders crouch in front of them as if they’re real offensive linemen, and the coaches walk the players through specific pass-rush lanes. Then, the defenders switch spots and learn the opposite pass-rush lane. The hope is that months later, having repped each objective from each position, they’re all capable of playing any spot at any time.
How can you decipher the pre-snap or post-snap disguise if seven different players can play any of the positions in question?
“His biggest thing is teaching spots,” Van Ginkel said. “He could be talking to a defensive lineman, but it could relate to an outside linebacker or inside linebacker. He does a good job of teaching everybody everybody else’s position. You never know. I mean, people are lined up all over the place. So, if you get a grasp of that, you can play faster.”
Closing out the 1st half with a sack.@AndrewVanGinkel
📺: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/04gVd8fFnz
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 22, 2024
Smarts lead to understanding, which leads to creativity. Different offenses require different strategies from a defense. That’s arguably the final layer of what Flores has built. You can target certain players and teach your scheme in a specific way, but can you be adaptive each week? Can you concoct a game plan to take away what the opponent does well, even if that means trying something you’ve never done before?
Not every coach has the guts. It’s easier in some instances to coach comfortably, to run what you know because that’s how you’ve always run things. Flores is willing to go against the grain in this regard, and this has been evident all season. Last year, the Vikings played Cover 4 on 9.2 percent of early-down snaps, according to TruMedia. Through three games, the Vikings have played Cover 4 on 37.7 percent of those snaps.
Then there is third down, a different conversation for Flores entirely. Because the Vikings have been one of the most effective defenses in the NFL at stopping the run, limiting teams to a measly 3.4 yards per carry, they’re regularly forcing offenses into third-and-long situations. The Vikings’ average opponent distance on third down is 9.8 yards, the second-highest mark in the NFL.
Facing those circumstances, Flores’ defense can do almost anything.
Here is a pre-snap look from Sunday’s game against the Texans with three safeties in cloudy positions:
And here is how the defense dispersed post-snap with Josh Metellus playing a deep safety spot and Harrison Smith and Cam Bynum stationed on the second level to handle crossing receivers:
Here is another pre-snap look from Sunday against the Texans with Bynum lining up as a deep safety, while the rest of the defense is giving off a man-coverage vibe:
Here’s what the Vikings showed Stroud once he dropped back; Bynum floats into a deep-half safety spot, while Gilmore drops from a cornerback position into a deep-half safety player:
The intent of different offensive plays can change depending on the number of safeties. But offenses can never trust the picture the Vikings are initially providing them. They also don’t have time to seek answers. The Minnesota pass rush is coming.
Watch the film, scroll through the numbers and dissect all of this, and the players’ reactions start to make sense. It’s like looking at a chessboard, realizing there’s nowhere to go, nodding your head and tipping your cap.
“How do we provide as much stress as we possibly can for 60 minutes?” asked O’Connell. “That’s my challenge to those guys every week. I want to feel the opponent working through that process every single week.”
Copying the strategy seems like the obvious next step. Then again, if it were that easy, the players wouldn’t be talking about Flores’ defense the way they are in the first place.
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(Top photo: Bruce Kluckhohn / Associated Press)
