Josh Metellus might best exemplify just how different the Minnesota Vikings defense will be from last season.
From the first work out that was open to the media in the spring, new coordinator Brian Flores had the 2020 sixth-round safety from Michigan moving all over the field in packages that served to demonstrate just how much Flores plans to confuse offenses.
Buy Vikings TicketsOne one play, Metellus looked more like a linebacker than a safety. On another, veteran safety Harrison Smith would be the one showing blitz, while Cam Bynum played deep. If you weren’t at training camp practices at TCO Performance Center, what will be unveiled in the Vikings’ opener on Sunday against visiting Tampa Bay could leave you dizzy.
The Vikings didn’t use many starters in the preseason and they certainly didn’t show much of Flores’ plan, other than a few blitzes in the exhibition finale against the Cardinals.
That is about to change.
“This week is going to definitely show a lot of what we have,” Metellus said. “We’ve been keeping our cards close to our chest, but Sunday is the time you let it out. People are going to start to realize the kind of defense we have and the different ways we use it and the way we use different players. I think it’s going to be fun and I’m really excited.”
Correcting a Year One mistake
Perhaps the person most excited to see Flores’ scheme come to life will be Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. O’Connell pushed many of the right buttons last season in leading his team to 13 wins and an NFC North title in his first year on the job. But the one place where he made a clear misjudgment was in hiring veteran NFL assistant Ed Donatell to be his defensive coordinator.
O’Connell’s intentions were good — Donatell had been the coordinator for well-respected defensive mind and head coach Vic Fangio in Denver — and he thought Donatell would bring the same type of confusion-causing scheme that Fangio had used for so long.
But it was the Vikings defense that often looked confused. The Vikings tied for 30th in scoring defense (25.1 points per game) and 31st in total defense (388.7 yards per game). As the season progressed, O’Connell made no secret of his desire to see Donatell be more aggressive in his play calling, but it was clear the two weren’t on the same page.
The Vikings gave up 400-plus yards in five consecutive games, a franchise record, and had nine regular-season games in which opponents accumulated more than 400 yards. After Minnesota surrendered 431 yards in a 31-24 playoff loss to the New York Giants at U.S. Bank Stadium, Donatell was jettisoned.
Perhaps the only person sorry to see him go was Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who received a rich contract extension in part because of his success against the Vikings.
Josh Metellus says defense "is complicated for the offense, easy for us,"
The candidates to replace Donatell included Flores, who had been an assistant on the Steelers’ staff after being fired as the Dolphins’ head coach, and Ejiro Evero, whom O’Connell knew from their time together on the Rams staff.
Evero spent 2022 as the Broncos’ defensive coordinator during Nathaniel Hackett’s tumultuous 15-game tenure in Denver and was then released from his contract.
When Evero decided to become the Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator, the Vikings hired Flores. Flores then spent training camp showing the Vikings’ offense just how many looks his defense can provide.
“There have been a few practices where I come in and I say, ‘I don’t think we won that practice. I think Flo won that practice,'” Cousins said during training camp. “So it’s a good challenge.”
Flores is going to employ a lot of man defense, but he’s also going to provide help for some of his inexperienced cornerbacks by sending blitzes that will be unpredictable because the look won’t dictate how many pass rushers will be coming. There will be personnel looks with six defensive backs, including three safeties, and there will be looks with defensive fronts that are nothing but pass rushers.
“I’m aggressive by nature,” Flores said at his introductory press conference last winter. “Philosophically, that’s something I believe in. I left out of here feeling like there was shared vision (after my interview). (O’Connell) is aggressive offensively. I’m aggressive defensively. That kind of philosophy was aligned.”
While Flores’ system looks complex, Metellus said the goal is to make life complicated for opposing quarterbacks, such as the Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield, while not overwhelming the defense.
“This defense can get really, really complex,” Metellus said, “in the way that we’ve got players all over the place, me included. It can get simple, too. We have something that’s working, there’s no reason to go away from it.
“I think until we figure out what we do best and what works against teams and how they attack us, I think we’re going to figure out how complex we need to get. I would say (this defense) is complicated for the offense, easy for us. There’s not too much on our end. A couple players have to learn a lot of different spots, but other than it’s really just see ball, get ball.”
Kevin O'Connell excited to see defense "come to life"
While this will be Flores’ first time holding the title of coordinator, the 42-year-old from Brooklyn is not lacking in experience.
Before coaching the Dolphins from 2019 to ’21, he was on Bill Belichick’s coaching staff in New England for 11 years. Flores spent last season as a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach on Mike Tomlin’s staff in Pittsburgh.
Flores’ first defense in Miami finished 32nd and last in the NFL in points allowed and 30th in yards. But the 2020 Dolphins’ defense showed significant improvement, jumping to sixth in points surrendered and 20th in yards before finishing 16th and 15th in his final season.
O’Connell likely would be thrilled if Flores can duplicate the 2021 Dolphins defense in his first year in Minnesota. The Vikings’ identity, with O’Connell as coach, is on the offensive side of the ball, so a defense that finishes in the middle of the pack would be considered a success by many.
O’Connell will get his first real look at that defense on Sunday. He’s already confident he will see the aggressiveness that was lacking a year ago.
“I told our team today, talking about what I think it’s going to take to win the game,” O’Connell said. “We want to come out with a bunch of energy, play fast, and fly around in all phases. It’s always about scheme, technique, and fundamentals, but I think the effort, the urgency, how we come out of the tunnel on Sunday is as important as anything because it’s going to be a heck of a challenge against Tampa.”
How much will defense show in Week 1?
The NFL is all about adjustments, so anything the Vikings put on film against the Buccaneers will begin to give opposing quarterbacks and offensive coordinators clues about what they can expect.
That means it’s likely Flores will try to keep some looks in his back pocket, at least until the Vikings face the Eagles in a Week 2 game on Thursday night in Philadelphia.
The Eagles’ Jalen Hurts emerged as a top quarterback last season and will present plenty of challenges. He was fourth in the NFL in rushing yards among quarterbacks last season with 760 and his 13 rushing touchdowns led all QBs.
Asked about holding back looks on Sunday, O’Connell said: “I think the beauty of (the defense) is there’s so much marriage to it that with everything that we’ll do, there more than likely will be a counter punch or a marrying look to it where we can do some different things.
“That’s the beauty of the package that’s been installed whether it’s personnel based, whether it’s pressures, coverages, situational calls … you only get so many snaps this Sunday, and we’re going to game plan based upon what we think gives our guys the best chance to have success.
“As the season goes on I’m sure there will be game plans and challenges that present themselves that we have to adapt and kind of mold. But that’s the beauty of what we’ve built and what I’m excited to see play out in the early part of the season is just what that looks like in a game in and game out basis and how Flo wants to deploy our personnel.”
