Against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Brian Flores showed he cares more about winning than statistics. The Minnesota Vikings defense dominated early, confusing Jordan Love and forcing him into uncharacteristic turnovers. Once Minnesota’s offense had capitalized on Green Bay’s mishaps, they held a cozy 28-0 advantage, their largest lead ever at Lambeau Field.
However, things changed in the second half when Green Bay made adjustments and got rolling with some tempo offense and a slightly complacent defensive mindset.
The Vikings went into Green Bay on Sunday and dominated the first half, taking the life out of the Packers from the opening bell. Minnesota got the ball first and then marched down the field behind the combined powers of an elite receiving corps and the talented Mr. Aaron Jones. I’m sure there was more than one Cheesehead to arrive a bit late from tailgating only to find the game already tilted Minnesota’s way.
On Green Bay’s opening drive, they drove the ball downfield into great position, running effectively against Minnesota’s base defense and getting inside the 20. On a critical early third-and-13, the Vikings dodged a bullet on a dropped pass.
The Vikings go Bengal and Show, then drop into a 3Deep 3Under look (3Lock). Packers WR Dontayvion Wicks is open, having gained a step of separation on Shaquill Griffin, who appeared to slip on the play. Fortunately, Love’s throw was low, and Wicks couldn’t corral it. On the ensuing play, the Packers would doink their kick off the upright, leaving them empty-handed on their first drive.
The Vikings storm down the field again, capitalizing and taking a 14-0 lead. On the ensuing drive, the cat-and-mouse game between Jordan Love and Flores’ defense started in earnest, with Flores taking the advantage early.
In the clip below, you can see the Packers in a third-and-seven, as Minnesota’s base defense controlled Josh Jacobs and Green Bay’s ground attack early on in the drive. Flores decided to break out his Bengal package, aligning nine men at the line of scrimmage just before the snap. As they have done so successfully this season, they bailed out at the last second into coverage.
The fundamental threat of this scheme is that there is always the possibility that Minnesota can stay in Cover 0 and bring more rushers than the offense can pick up. The artistry and confusion that comes afterward are that this Vikings group, with so many multi-talented defenders, can also drop into coverage — numerous coverages. It takes a quarterback’s normal pre-snap reads away because his pre-snap read is no high safeties. Then, at the last second, the defense morphs into a one-high or two-high look.
On this snap, they drop into a modified Cover 2 scheme, with LB Kamu Grugier-Hill, fresh off a great game, dropping to a “high hole” position similar to a Tampa 3 defense. Love sees Cover-2 and thinks his star WR, Christian Watson, should be open behind the LBer to his side and in front of the safety. He is correct — for a second — but his throw arrives late. Grugier-Hill is playing deeper than Love would expect in a traditional Cover 2, and he makes an amazing play on the ball, throwing himself into its path for the interception. Once again, Flores and Co. fool an opposing team’s QB into a costly turnover.
On their ensuing drive, the Packers trail 21-0 and marched down the field again. However, Flores dialed up another difference-maker on a second-and-eight from the 21-yard line. As Love dropped back, the Vikings coverage does a great job taking away any early options.
Love doesn’t have time to scan back to the left, as Blake Cashman and Patrick Jones execute a delicious stunt: Cashman, rushing from a wide-5 technique, crashes into the inside of RB Emanuel Wilson. In doing so, he also runs into LT Rasheed Walker, freeing Jones to make the play. Love had nowhere to go. Jones gets the sack, but give great credit to Cashman for the unselfish play.
On the next play, a third-and-20, Flores eschewed the Bengal package but broke out a fancy coverage in which three defenders play deep, with three defenders at LB level and two in the intermediate “Robber” area underneath the deep safeties. 3-2-3-3? Love tried to sneak one in to TE Tucker Kraft, but Cam Bynum was there to make the play.
The Packers missed yet another FG, remaining scoreless on their opening three drives. The pattern continued when Flores once again dialed up a gem: On this play, Love and the Packers run a basic sit-slant combo the left and a corner-slide combo to the field. This is usually a very safe call with a QB like Jordan Love.
However, Flores again showed his mastery of an opponent’s protection scheme. The Vikings lined up in an Under front, with the 3-tech in their four-man look aligned to the weak side and Van Ginkel outside shade on the TE. The line slanted back towards the back, and Blake Cashman came from space into the voided gap.
Green Bay’s LG*, Elgton Jenkins, blocked back on the 3-tech to his side, and Minnesota’s DE occupied the RT. The back is offset to the right and also scanning to that side and is unavailable to help with Cashman. Cashman put the pressure on Love, whose throw sailed just over his intended target, eventually bouncing into Shaq Griffin‘s opportunistic grasp.
The Vikings offense would once again capitalize on the short field, taking a commanding 28-0 lead.
At this point, everything was going right for the Vikings. However, momentum swung back Green Bay’s way because Jalen Nailor misplayed a punt. The Vikings lead 28-7 going into the half.
At this point in the game, Flores’s desire to win outshines his desire for stats. In the second half, it wasn’t that Flores took his foot off the gas. Instead, I am sure that there were some things that he didn’t want to show next week’s opponent. After a stingy third quarter in which the Packers punted and then failed to convert on downs, their offense got rolling, scoring a TD early in the fourth quarter. After a Sam Darnold fumble that gave the Packers a short field, Green Bay was able to make purple faithful nervous, closing the gap to 28-22.
“I think it’s human nature to kind of take your foot off the gas a little bit. And we can’t do that, especially against an opponent like that and really any opponent in this league. And momentum is a big thing,” Flores said after the game. He added that he is harder on himself than anyone and wished he could have made some different calls in the fourth quarter.
It can be incredibly frustrating at times for a fan to watch their team take the lead, in part due to an aggressive defensive mentality, and then, after establishing a lead, leave the aggressive philosophy behind. Occasionally, this leads to the other team getting back in the game through controlled, underneath passing. The thing that most fans miss about this is that it’s the smart thing to do.
Once you have a lead and time is on your side, preventing the deep play and rallying to make tackles takes valuable time off the clock. If a defense trusts its offense to do their part and control clock and add some points, this is a surefire way to cement a victory. It has to be frustrating, though, for a coach like Flores to call a Cover 4 and have Love sneak in a post route for a TD that has no business being open vs. Cover 4, as happened with 1:07 left in the game.
Flores also mentioned that Green Bay deserved a ton of credit.
Sometimes you got to give them credit. They got a good quarterback. They got good receivers.They got a good, you know, coordinator, head coach, good play caller. So, you know, they made plays. And oftentimes you got to tip your cap.
Green Bay found a new wrinkle for negating some of the effects of Flores’ scheme — by going tempo. On second or third downs, the Packers occasionally lined up immediately and went with their tempo offense. By doing so, they kept Minnesota’s personnel package from the previous play on the field. This had the desired effect of keeping Flores away from certain portions of his play-calling menu. In this case, the Bengal package with four OLBs on the field at once.
But when it mattered most, Minnesota’s defense came up big. Below, the Vikings have their Bengal personnel on the field and show Cover 0. However, they don’t bail out at the last minute this time. Instead, they show 0 and play 0, bringing one more rusher than the protection can pick up. Harrison Smith comes off the edge untouched, forcing Love to release the ball much earlier than he would have liked. Additionally, Wicks does not recognize the blitz and the need to adjust his route and look earlier. The result was the Vikings defense’s third pick of the day and an easy interception for Byron Murphy.
On one hand, the second half wasn’t pretty, and Minnesota’s defense gave up 389 passing yards and 29 points on the day. On the other hand, Flores and his crafty ways lead to the creation of five turnovers, a key ingredient in a big rivalry win on the road.
*An earlier version of this post identified Jenkins as the right guard. We regret the error.
