Daily Norseman
The Vikings’ DC has crafted a unique scheme and will continue to add wrinkles to it
The Minnesota Vikings finished the 2024 season with the fifth-best defense in points allowed, despite not having any superstar players, thanks to the ingenuity of defensive coordinator Brian Flores. He took the Vikings’ defense from 28th to 13th in point allowed his first season as defensive coordinator, and then from 13th to 5th his second season.
One of the joys of having Brian Flores as defensive coordinator for the Vikings is that he is a student of the game and is at the forefront of defensive scheme trends. No static or stale defensive schemes here. All the recent trends of developing and using more hybrid defenders, increased blitzing, more pre-snap movement and disguise, and use of multiple fronts are incorporated into Flores’ scheme.
Indeed, the Vikings led the league in blitz rate last season (40.6%) and hybrid players like Josh Metellus were always on the field while edge rushers like Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner dropped back in coverage around 20% of the time. The Vikings under Flores last season also had the highest entropy (i.e. most unpredictable) defensive front in the league, with Pat Jones II, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Dallas Turner among those with the most varied usage in the league according to PFF.
So what could Flores do this season as an encore?
My guess, in part based on his recent press conference, is that there won’t be dramatic scheme changes from last season, but there will be some incremental changes based on the change in personnel from a year ago. Flores hinted as much in that press conference at the end of minicamp, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be notable and/or more subtle scheme changes and other differences from last season.
But like all great innovators, Flores borrowed elements of his scheme from others. In this case, the elder statesmen of NFL defensive minds- Bill Belichick, Vic Fangio, and Steve Spagnuolo- and crafted them into his own scheme designed around his personnel. It was interesting that during Flores’ last press conference he mentioned looking at what other coordinators did with success last season but couldn’t think of any past Fangio and Spagnuolo. Flores has also borrowed from college-level coordinators, as college and even high school sometimes originate what eventually makes its way to the NFL level. Flores borrowed Pittburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi’s zone coverage behind various blitzes and has used it with success since joining the Vikings.
Above video: Some of the schematics Brian Flores employed last season with the Vikings’ defense
One element of Flores’ defensive scheme that I expect to carryover from last season is the use of the five-man defensive front. Known as a Bear front in base defense and a Penny front in nickel defense, this is a versatile and variable element in Flores’ scheme with many versatile players upfront.
Last season this was something of...
