The past seven days have not been kind to the Minnesota Vikings, especially Brian Flores’ once-stout unit.
The fall from grace has been swift and violent, like when an anvil falls on a character’s head in a vintage Looney Tunes cartoon. Last week, Flores was the hottest defensive name in the league and a top head coaching candidate. Since then, his defense has given up 31 and 28 points (not counting the safety by the offense) in back-to-back weeks. The secondary is playing terribly, the pass rush is not getting home, and you’ve watched two quarterbacks dice you up with surgical precision over five days. It hasn’t been pretty.
The other issue is that, while the core issues of Flores’ aggressive pass rushes not getting home and opposing receivers exposing the secondary are evident to everyone, there are plenty of root causes.
Blake Cashman‘s injury has left a void in the middle of Minnesota’s defense, particularly over the middle of the field in coverage. The lack of meaningful pass rush from the interior has led to countless third-down situations where quarterbacks can easily step up and evade the edge pressure. In turn, that means bringing extra bodies, which further vacates the secondary, where the likes of Stephon Gilmore appear to be aging like milk as the season wears on.
“Dagger,” “glance,” and “mesh” are all fancy football terms for the same thing. They are staple concepts with an open receiver streaking over the middle of the field for an easy completion in the most crucial situations of the game. There’s also an infuriating feeling of impotence as the entire stadium knows it’s coming, but the Vikings can’t stop it. Throw in some shaky run defense, a hobbled Jonathan Greenard coming in and out of the lineup, and first-round pick Dallas Turner being so anonymous to start the season he may have entered witness protection, and you’ve got a problem.
Some of their struggles appear to be personnel-based, and some are schematic. The question is, what is their capacity to adapt to try and solve this problem?
Beginning on the personnel side, there are a few options and reasons for optimism.
Firstly, count me among the chorus of fans calling for Kevin O’Connell to fulfill his promise of a “10-day plan” to escalate Dallas Turner’s impact on the field. “His (snap count) will keep progressing. He’s doing everything that we’re asking of him,” he said after the game. “You will see more and more from Dallas. That will be something over the next 10 days. He will make a big-time impact for us.”
Fans are desperate for that promise to come to fruition. It’s tough to watch Jared Verse, a promising edge talent who was on the board when the Vikings selected Turner, play at a near DROY level when you can’t find Turner with a searchlight. If Turner can add a dimension to this defense as a productive third pass rusher, that could provide a spark. With Pat Jones regressing after his hot start, they need a third body to wreak havoc on third down and take some pressure off Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel.
Unfortunately, there aren’t exactly any young, promising rookies in the secondary to sell hope on. Minnesota’s corners are who they are. Maybe this could’ve been different if Mekhi Blackmon hadn’t gotten hurt in training camp, allowing Byron Murphy to move outside and give you the flexibility to bench Gilmore or Shaq Griffin. However, that isn’t the case. As much as Gilmore has regressed in the past two weeks, there’s no meaningful depth behind him. Unless this team is going to get frisky at the trade deadline, they will have to make do with the 34-year-old veteran.
We can also hope this 10-day layoff will pay dividends from a health standpoint, particularly with Greenard and Cashman. Both players returning and playing to their early season form would be huge for this team. Cashman’s return not only puts an instinctive, rangy defender on the field but also frees up safety/defensive weapon Josh Metellus to go back to roaming all over the field rather than sticking his head in as a linebacker. Cashman’s absence may have hamstrung Flores’ creativity to a degree we may not fully appreciate.
But as you can see, the Vikings have locked themselves in with this roster. The roster is what it is, and it’s hard to see GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah being overly aggressive at the trade deadline, especially considering franchise left tackle Christian Darrisaw’s season-ending injury. Even if they did add some new personnel, losing Darrisaw significantly lowers this team’s ceiling. Considering their limited assets and what they’re trying to build around J.J. McCarthy for the future, it would be pretty irresponsible for this organization to push all their chips in this season.
Last week, it felt like it may have been worth striking while the iron is hot and pushing a winning window open. However, after two losses and your franchise left tackle going down, the sobering reality has likely set in that this team isn’t a Super Bowl contender.
So, from a schematic standpoint, the only other remaining solutions fall squarely on Brian Flores’ shoulders. We saw what happened the first time his innovative scheme was “solved,” and it wasn’t pretty. Every Shannahan/McVay disciple saw the game plan Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor engineered. Minnesota’s defense collapsed a week after they shut out the Las Vegas Raiders.
Coming into this season, we saw fascinating innovations on the Flores scheme after an offseason in the lab, but now we’re here at a similar crossroads. There are opportunities for health and personnel to show some improved play. Still, the Vikings can’t stay idle. Starting November 3 against the Indianapolis Colts, the last thing Minnesota needs is to give a bright offensive mind like Shane Steichen an opportunity to get his young QB some confidence with a clearly defined game plan. Flores needs to be ready to adapt, catch the Colts off guard, and show us the latest evolution of this defensive scheme, and he’s got 10 days to pull it off.
I won’t pretend to know what that evolution should look like. My layman’s understanding of defensive football will certainly not try to fan-splain Brian Flores how to coach defense. Still, the need for change is evident. The success of that next innovation could decide whether this Vikings team can continue to hang around in the playoff race or collapse in on itself like a dying star.
