A little over a year ago, the Minnesota Vikings fired former head coach Mike Zimmer. Reasons for his departure vary, but ultimately it was a culmination of failing to win, the culture he cultivated and his poor defense. The defense unfortunately didn’t get any better under new head coach Kevin O’Connell.
When O’Connell was hired, he brought in Ed Donatell from the Denver Broncos as his defensive coordinator to help get the most out of the defense. Unfortunately for the Vikings, he was unable to do so. Alec Lewis of the Athletic pulled a statistic on the defensive success rate this season versus the prior season and found that even though the Vikings’ defense was more successful in 2023, they ranked worse overall in the NFL.
The Vikings' defensive success rate in…
2021: 56.0% (22nd in NFL)
2022: 56.3% (25th in NFL)Not sure what the takeaway is, but it's fascinating nonetheless.
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) January 17, 2023
In the words of former head coach Denny Green, the Vikings’ defense “are who we thought they were.” It’s a group that has a lot of slow, aging veterans who’ve been mainstays on this defense for multiple seasons. Couple that with changing from a 4-3 to a 3-4 scheme, and it caused a lot of headaches all season.
The Vikings and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will have their work cut out for them this offseason as they try to patch together a defense while still trying to stay competitive.