By Matthew Coller
The Minnesota Vikings improved to 2-0 with a win over the Chicago Bears. Let’s deep dive into the film and numbers into what worked and what didn’t….
What went right
Run blocking
The Minnesota Vikings’ run game didn’t blow the doors off the Chicago Bears. It was more of a death by 1,000 cuts. They grinded the Bears down with a lot of four and five yard carries with an attack that required everyone to contribute. Kevin O’Connell shouted out Jordan Addison’s effort, which stood out with Jauan Jennings away from the team on Sunday and both tight ends were heavily involved in gritting out every yard they could get.
This early run is an example of using everyone. The Vikings line up in the pistol with Josh Oliver, TJ Hockenson and Addison to one side. They use Oliver to pin the defensive end while Hockenson takes the linebacker and Addison scoots up to hit safety Dillon Thieneman.
As he did for the entire game, Jones lowered his shoulder and pushed forward for as many yards as he could get.
O’Connell said on Monday that he feels that there are more yards out there to get but in terms of effort from everyone, they maximized it.
The Vikings had a nice design on the run play that essentially put a nail in Chicago’s coffin. Once again they had Hockenson and Oliver on the same side but this time Addison goes in motion and takes the Bears’ cornerback with him, leaving the left side wide open if they can get the right blocks.
Indeed, Hockenson pins the defensive end, Christian Darrisaw pulls and the rookie Thieneman misreads the play and stays inside as the play goes outside and Jones is off and running.
At the end, once again, he creates the contact to stay in bounds.
The takeaway is that the Vikings’ run game looked more organized vs. Chicago and seemed to take the fight to the Bears’ D-line first. Chicago’s line isn’t particularly impressive, which may have played a factor, but the Vikings O-line clearly made strides.
Getting the ball out of Wentz’s hands
In Week 2, Wentz had the seventh quickest snap-to-throw time, per PFF. When getting rid of the ball in 2.5 seconds or less, he went 8-for-12 for 84 yards. When he held it longer than 2.5 seconds on 12 drop-backs, he had just three completions.
Here’s a look at one of the best designs of the day. They run Myles Price in motion, causing an adjustment at the snap for the Bears defense and Hockenson finds a gap in the zone coverage for a first down.
With the Vikings desperately needing a first down late in the contest, they lined up in a bunch formation with Jefferson, Addison and Hockenson. The Bears played it man-to-man, leaving Addison open with a linebacker. Wentz found the best matchup for a huge completion.
Overall when Wentz was kept clean, he was 9-for-16 with 7.8 yards per pass attempt and his only miscue was a dropped interception on the opening drive.
Even if it hadn’t been raining, O’Connell had the right idea to have Wentz get rid of the ball fast and have straight forward reads.
Brian Flores creating opportunities for Dallas Turner
The internet is debating how good Dallas Turner really is after he picked up a number of his pressures via free rushes or matchups with tight ends.
The thing is, that’s the beauty of the 3-4 defense. Ask Greg Lloyd, Rickey Jackson, Kevin Greene, Lamar Lathon, Terrell Suggs, Peter Boulware, Joey Porter and so many more linebackers who have benefitted from the matchups created by their mastermind defensive coordinators who use large defensive ends like Caleb Banks and Jalen Redmond or overload one side of the D-line to force opponents into using RBs and TEs to block.
Here’s an example of the Bears trying to run play-action with a tight end trying to close down the back side, which is Turner. Redmond blows up the play on the right and Turner then handles the cut block from the tight end and they sack the quarterback.
We used to marvel when someone like Danielle Hunter would get matched up against a tight end up that’s what coordinators are always trying to achieve and that’s exactly what Brian Flores got on the last play of the game.
Flores put six men across the line of scrimmage with Kyle Van Noy, Eric Wilson and Blake Cashup up front and Redmond as the only D-linemen. At the snap, everyone except Wilson rushed the passer, leaving the right guard standing there alone while a tight end tried to stop Turner and the running back had to face off with Cashman.
Turner won the battle easily.
Here’s the way to look at Turner’s start: He’s been nothing short of a superstar. Lots of teams try this stuff and they do not get this type of production. Any time people are debating whether elite production is the coach or the player, then you know it’s working.
It worked to perfection in Chicago with Turner ending with 11 QB pressures. He is currently leading the league after two weeks.
Slowing D’Andre Swift
The Bears’ total rushing numbers looked OK but their star RB who just received a big contract extension was completely shut down.
Swift carried the ball 16 times and picked up just 45 yards and fumbled at the goal line when Redmond knocked the ball out.
Here’s a look at one of the reasons they succeeded: Because Levi Drake Rodriguez controlled the middle. Domonique Orange overpowered Garrett Bradbury and got him turned sideways and LDR came flying down the line to make the tackle in the hole.
There was another play in the game where Redmond made the same tackle against outside zone.
The effort from the interior D-line for the majority of the game was very strong, especially considering Chicago’s ability to dominate with the run.
Confusing Caleb Williams
It wasn’t just that the Vikings pressured the Bears’ quarterback, they also gave him lots of problems with the coverages that were behind the pressures.
Here’s a play where Harrison Smith blitzed off the edge and Josh Metellus was at the line of scrimmage and the Vikings used Jacob Thomas, James Pierre and Isaiah Rodgers to play the role of deep-third defenders. Looking for somewhere to go with the ball quickly, Williams had nothing over the middle to his checkdown and just threw the ball away.
The question about sending blitzes is always about leaving receivers open downfield but Flores figured out ways to put a top on deep routes and drop players underneath where they expect checkdowns and shallow crossers.
Here’s another example of three deep players with Cashman and Metellus dropping out from being lined up at the line of scrimmage.
How about this for a stat: Williams held onto the ball for more than 2.5 seconds on 74% of his drop-backs.
For an offense that has wanted to increase how quickly he gets the ball out of his hands, that was a disaster against the confusing coverage and rush looks of the Vikings.
Caleb Banks splash moments