Flores Scheme Will Drive Vikings Defense Up The Ladder In 2023

It was all theory before the start of the Vikings Organized Training Activity. It is now a little more than that.

The idea behind the hiring of Brian Flores as defensive coordinator is that he would not allow the Vikings defensive players to take the field with an easy-to-diagnose set up and go through the motions of trying to stop opposing offenses.

Instead, his defensive players would attack the offense and no longer be subject to the whims of the opponents. In 2023, it is no longer about reacting. It’s about putting the fear of destruction into opponents.

Now that the Vikings are on the field and starting to act on the idea of defensive aggression, there is hope for the future. The first issue of the Flores defense is movement before the snap.

The front seven is going to shift as players take their positions. In recent years, opposing quarterbacks and offensive coordinators got exactly what they saw as they broke their own huddle and approached the line of scrimmage. It was easy to diagnose, and that will not be the case in the 2023 season.

This will create confusion and a sense of doubt as defensive linemen and linebackers shift their positions. Is it a guarantee that the Vikings will cause havoc and create chaos on an every-down basis? No, but this defense is going to cause pre-snap issues that neither Ed Donatell’s defense nor Mike Zimmer’s unit were capable of providing.

As Vikings linebackers and linemen went through their drills at the OTA, there was an increase in overall pace with each whistle. As the offense began competing against the defense, quarterback Kirk Cousins was forced to spike the ball as he took the snap and realized he was facing a full blitz.

It is notable how quickly the defense was adapting to this new scheme and how much belief there is that the defense could actually improve to the point where the unit could carry its own weight and complement the offense.

In addition to changing the way the defensive front operates, the secondary will also attack in multiple ways that opponents have not seen in the last 3 years. But it will be more than just the scheme of the secondary. It will be the presence of second-year safety Lewis Cine, who suffered a broken leg early last season and never had a chance to show what he could do for the team.

Cine was the team’s first-round draft pick in 2022, and the belief was that he combined the athleticism and physical style to set a tone that the team needed badly. Cine is healthy now and appears to be thriving in the Flores system.

He is thrilled to be back on the field, and appears to be prepared to take on a leadership role as preparations for the new season continues.

“This defense has guys in places where they play to their strengths,” Cine said. “We’re not all just pieces where you fit just because. You’re going to play to your strengths and just dominate.”

The Vikings are now convinced that the defense will be a completely different unit than the one team had the last 3 seasons when it was among the worst in the league – 31^st in yards allowed, 30^th in points per game allowed. Flores provides the defense with an aggressiveness and the multiple fronts needed to confuse opponents on a consistent basis.

The addition of free agents — defensive end Dean Lowry from the Green Bay Packers, defensive back Byron Murphy from the Arizona Cardinals and outside linebacker Marcus Davenport from the Saints – should also be a positive development. None of these players are superstars, but all 3 should be major contributors.

Flores appears to have created a roadmap that should lead to an improved defense. However, the Vikings defense has been so bad that some improvement is not enough. This team has championship aspirations, and that means the work and the planning has just begun.