B-Flo's 2023 Defense Discussion

Minnesota's defense leads the league in blitz rate (54.4%). They are the only team that blitzes on more than 50% of opponent dropbacks. But they also rank second in the league in percentage of snaps rushing just three or fewer players. It’s not so much the consistent aggression that causes problems for opposing offenses, but the extreme variance of Minnesota’s pass rush.

When the Vikings blitz, they tend to overload. The Vikings actually rank dead last in the NFL in the percentage of blitzes that feature five rushers — i.e., sending just one extra rusher — but they lead the league in the percentage of their blitzes that feature six rushers and have the second-highest percentage of seven or more rushers.

Paired with a heightened chance of rushing just three players and dropping out of the pressure look, Minnesota’s defense is constantly forcing quarterbacks to decipher whether they are about to face an overload blitz or a flood of coverage defenders post-snap.

Another unusual element of the scheme is how the Vikings deploy their personnel. Like most other teams, Minnesota’s defense exists primarily in nickel. But unlike most other teams, the fifth defensive back is usually a safety.

Josh Metellus, Camryn Bynum and Harrison Smith have each played 791 snaps or more this season, whereas the team’s third cornerback has only 338. Each of those safeties is capable of lining up anywhere they need them to — deep off the line, in the box or covering the slot — and will move both snap to snap and within the play as the coverage rotates.



Opposing quarterbacks are forced to read a constantly shifting picture with unusual personnel that aren’t in fixed positions and trying to determine how that defense will react to the play they called in the huddle.

Much of current offensive success is predicated on understanding how defensive rules within coverages will react to specific plays and targeting the weak points. Teams can’t figure out what the rules are for this Vikings defense because the picture changes too quickly.

This personnel also adapts week to week, depending on the opponent. Rookie linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. is the team’s second linebacker, alongside Jordan Hicks, when everybody is healthy.

There have been games where Pace has played almost 70 snaps and as few as five, depending on the opponent. That personnel use isn’t necessarily just determined by opposing formations and personnel, either. Teams with broadly similar personnel patterns on offense have been met with radically different personnel counters by the Vikings this season.



All of this combines to create one of the league’s most difficult-to-process defenses for quarterbacks.

Make no mistake, Minnesota’s defensive personnel is still far from elite.

Danielle Hunter is the only Vikings pass-rusher with an above-average PFF pass-rushing grade, and the team leader in PFF coverage grade when in single coverage is 12-year veteran safety Harrison Smith. Two of the team’s top five overall grades on defense belong to rookies, only one of whom was even drafted. And yet, the defense ranks sixth in EPA per play against, one spot below the 49ers.

Brian Flores came to Minnesota with his career rather in limbo, but he has revolutionized a defense that was one of the worst in the league, transforming it into a group that could well power this team to postseason football despite missing its starting quarterback for half of the year.