In the world of professional wrestling, there are two types of characters.
There is the heel, the guy who gets booed mercilessly, and the face, the guy who has the adoration of the crowd. Together, they tell a story that’s designed to captivate the audience and draw a big reaction at the end. But it also tells the difference between what the 2022 Minnesota Vikings were and what the 2023 Vikings could be.
Let’s start with the basic premise of the heel and the face. The heel walks into a hostile environment that is heavily skewed in favor of the face. Over the course of the match, the heel beats the hell out of the face and asserts his dominance while pandering to the crowd.
Just when it appears all hope is lost, the face rallies. Sometimes, it’s an improbable victory. Others, the deficit is too much to overcome and the heel slinks off, reveling in his glory.
One year ago, the Vikings had the energy of a babyface. They would come out strong but taper off in the middle of games. While the offense went dark, opposing teams wailed on the Vikings and put them into a hole that was difficult to get out of.
The Vikings handled this well, tying an NFL record with eight fourth-quarter comebacks. They even established a cabinet full of likable characters such as Kirk Cousins’ alter ego, Kirko Chainz. But in the end, the final deficit was too much to overcome in a playoff loss to the New York Giants.
It’s hard to argue with the success of a 13-win season, but good teams always try to find a way to become better. Kevin O’Connell brought his Sean McVay-inspired playbook to the Twin Cities a year ago. However, he probably knew that Minnesota’s success wasn’t sustainable and that things had to change – which is why the Vikings are going “full heel” in 2023.
Minnesota fired defensive coordinator Ed Donatell early in the offseason. Donatell’s passive scheme drew plenty of criticism a year ago and was a big reason why the Vikings found themselves in so many deficits. With aging players everywhere, it was time for a new look. So they hired Brian Flores.
Flores isn’t likely to magically turn Minnesota’s defense into a top-10 unit, but he’s more likely to throw a punch than to take one. According to Pro Football Focus, the Miami Dolphins ranked second in the NFL with a 39.6% blitz rate under Flores, and his aggressive nature has already been implemented in training camp.
Cousins serves as the Vikings’ resident babyface. He explained the difficulty of Flores’ system early in camp and how it’s helped make the offense better as they head into the season.
If you were playing him for that week, you would run a very different offense, a very different system, have a very different plan to handle the challenges he’s throwing at you. But if you just prepared to play him, are you really getting ready for the [Tampa Bay] Buccaneers in Week 1 and the rest of your schedule? … That’s the world we’re living in and it makes us better in the long run.
Minnesota’s changes on defense aren’t just in scheme. They’ve replaced several familiar faces with new ones. Eric Kendricks, Patrick Peterson, Dalvin Tomlinson, and Za’Darius Smith were some of the key departures from last year’s defense. The Vikings replaced them with younger, faster personnel like Ivan Pace Jr. and Byron Murphy.
Even replacing Smith with Davenport has its benefits. The latter could line up as a stand-up rusher or a down lineman to maximize his potential and dish out punishment to opposing offenses.
But the Vikings haven’t just experienced an overhaul on defense; they’re also looking to beat up teams on the offensive end.
Many people scratched their heads when the Vikings spent big on tight end Josh Oliver in the spring. However, adding him represented a slight shift in philosophy. While Minnesota had primarily run 11-personnel (one running back and one tight end) with three receivers a year ago, Oliver’s arrival signals the shift for more 12-personnel (one running back, two tight ends).
That should be good for the running game, which goes from Dalvin Cook‘s boom-or-bust nature to Alexander Mattison‘s more decisive style. Mattison isn’t a proven commodity. But he can provide more efficiency in the running game, which could be the basis of the Minnesota’s offense in 2023.
After T.J. Hockenson signed a four-year, $66 million contract on Thursday, ESPN’s Mina Kimes noted how teams only played their base defense 15% of the time when the Vikings were in heavier packages.
I think that number – the usage and the efficiency could go up even more this year. Last season, whenever the Vikings had two tight ends on the field, teams didn’t respect the threat of the run. … I think with that combination, with the versatility you have, that grouping with two tight ends is going to be far less predictable, far more multiple, and I think it’s going to be extremely productive for Minnesota.
Playing heavier packages is also a great idea considering that’s the offensive line’s strength. Ed Ingram and Ezra Cleveland ranked first and third among all offensive linemen in quarterback pressures allowed one year ago. With Garrett Bradbury still being a question mark, the Vikings would be better served to run the ball more and take away some of the hits that Cousins absorbed last season.
The Vikings aren’t shifting back to Mike Zimmer’s strategy. But it’s a way to become more efficient on offense, which allows O’Connell to use more of his playbook.
So what does this all mean? And what does it have to do with the bad guy in a wrestling match? It means the Vikings are going to try to beat the hell out of their opponents.
Think about the combination the Vikings are trying to build. When a team is on offense, they have to go against an aggressive defense that could use multiple packages and blitz on nearly 40% of their snaps.
When the defense is on the field, they face a team focused on establishing themselves physically, forcing the back end of the defense to creep up and open up bigger plays for weapons like Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson, and Jordan Addison.
The Vikings will look to control the time of possession, which means that teams will have to deal with Oliver pounding them into the turf for over 40 minutes. In turn, this puts their opponent in a hole that will be difficult to get out of.
Thus, the Vikings will be the ones in the heel role. They’ll dish out punishment, hammmer the babyface, and bask in the chants of “FRAD-U-LENT!” It’s a shift in mentality from where they were a year ago, but it could be enough to vault them into the upper echelon of contenders.
