Will Minnesota’s Late Defensive Collapse Carry Over to 2024?
Credit: Jamie Saba\/Imagn Images
Coming into the Vikings 2023, I, like many Vikings fans was elated when Kevin O’Connell and Company announced they would be letting go of the weakest of the Ninja Turtles, Ed “Donatello.” Even better, they hired a highly-respected defensive mind in Brian Flores. The Vikings were coming off of one of their worst defensive showings ever in 2022, which saw them ranked 31st or 32nd in the league, depending on the news outlet.
As is customary for any fanbase, the chatter immediately pivoted towards predicting what level of change we could all “realistically” expect in the coming season. At the time, I felt it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility we could see a relatively significant rise in Minnesota’s defensive standing in the league. My prediction was somewhere in the 18th – 20th range, a pretty significant jump from dead last.
Boy, did Flores ever deliver. From Weeks 4 through 14, the Vikings defense only allowed an average of 16.3 points per game with a brand of defense Vikings fans haven’t seen since the heydays of the Mike Zimmer era. An aggressive, confident defense, one that was tenacious and hungry. And then came Weeks 15 – 18.
Coming into Week 15, the Vikings, marred by significant injuries to Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson, were still in the hunt for a playoff spot. Sitting at 7-6, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that the Vikings could still land a Wild Card spot in the NFC. But what followed was a complete dissection of the defense and the offense collapsing under the weight of the aforementioned injuries.
The Vikings gave up at least 30 points in three of their last four games. That includes a whopping 1,194 yards receiving and 470 yards rushing. Yuck. To do some simple math for you, their average stat line had them giving up 298.5 yards receiving and 117.5 yards rushing PER GAME to finish out the season. Those numbers are nowhere near acceptable or sustainable for a team that expects to win football games.
So what can we expect in 2024? Are the Vikings on track to turn things around or are we headed for more of what we saw to finish out the previous season? I’m going to stick my neck out again and say Vikings fans should be optimistic about the future of the defense in 2024.
The Vikings have certainly made bolstering the defense a priority this offseason. Since the close of the 2023 season, the Vikings have made a slew of important roster acquisitions and draft picks. Notably, they upgraded their linebacker group with Flores alum Andrew Van Ginkel and Minnesota Golden Gophers alum Blake Cashman. The Vikings also signed edge rusher Jonathan Greenard from the Texans to replace the departing Danielle Hunter. Veteran cornerback Shaq Griffin joined the mix, and last (but certainly not least) they drafted the steal of the draft in Dallas Turner.
Why should this all mean the Vikings can finish this season on a much better note than they ended on? The Vikings’ 2023 season had many stressors placed on them, with major injuries to key players at key positions. It should be noted that when a team is feeling insecurity on offense, it does apply pressure to the defense to create more plays that impact the scoreboard.
Couple that with the general inexperience of the Vikings 2023 defensive roster and you’ll find that it was only natural the team couldn’t sustain what they had done for much of the season. Now, with an influx of desperately needed veteran leadership, they can sustain the level we know they’re capable of.
Players like Ivan Pace, Jr. certainly can benefit from having players who know what it takes to play a full-length NFL season. And while schematically, this defense is better positioned to remain aggressive, this club also won’t “need” to sell out on aggressiveness on every play in order to get results. It should excite any Vikings fan to think of having a defense that’s less predictable play-to-play, series-to-series, game-to-game. There’s a lot to be explored here, and Flores is going to have a lot of fun working in the laboratory through training camp and beyond to make things work.
Up Next