Film Study: How the Chargers beat the blitz and Vikings offense struggled in key moments

We dive into the All-22 film to see why the Vikings couldn't disrupt Justin Herbert and why they came short in the red zone and third downs

---

By Matthew Coller

Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores took the saying “live by the blitz, die by the blitz” to heart on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers when he sent more than four rushers at quarterback Justin Herbert on 42 of his 49 drop-backs on Sunday. Unfortunately for the Vikings, the “die by the blitz” side showed up often with the star QB completing 34 passes for 317 yards and tossing three TDs when blitzed.

How was Herbert able to have so much success? Should the Vikings have done something else? Let’s have a look at the tape…

We begin with the third play of the game. The Vikings put five players on the defensive line and send a sixth rusher in linebacker Jordan Hicks. The defensive backs are playing off the line of scrimmage with a “big nickel” personnel package that includes Josh Metellus. Receiver Keenan Allen simply sits down in the zone and it’s an easy pitch and catch for seven yards.

The average snap to release for Herbert via PFF was 2.19 seconds.

The Vikings didn’t just play zones behind their blitzes but Allen found lots of ways to beat them, including winning one-on-one vs. Byron Murphy Jr. The Chargers’ veteran receiver caught six passes on six targets for 85 yards when matched up against the Vikings’ top corner. On this play, the Chargers do a terrific job of picking up Hicks’s rush by executing a pass off and forcing the Vikings linebacker outside. Allen wins an out route, first down.

To further demonstrate how the Vikings tried mixing different coverages behind their blitzes, here’s one play where they pressed Murphy Jr. against Mike Williams and also played him way off the line of scrimmage and the Chargers won both matchups. Herbert was perfectly in sync with his receivers and the O-line put up enough resistance to give him two seconds to throw.

On several occasions the Chargers ran bubble screens to receivers who motioned behind the line of scrimmage. As the Vikings grew impatient with getting dinked and dunked, they became very aggressive and the Chargers picked the right spot to hit a trick play. Allen’s touchdown pass was wide open because Murphy, Metellus and Bynum were firing downhill as soon as they saw the throw behind the line of scrimmage, leaving multiple receivers running free.

Herbert’s mobility was a big part of L.A.’s success, even if he doesn’t have a reputation as a “running” quarterback. On this play the young QB spots Hicks playing man-to-man coverage with the running back and takes off into the open middle of the field as the pressure comes from outside, picking up a first down.

His ability to move also played into Herbert’s biggest throw of the game when he completed a third-and-17 pass to Allen.

So why didn’t they stop blitzing? Well, that didn’t change much. He went 6-for-7 with 88 yards when not blitzed, including this play where he was able to stand in the pocket forever and deliver a brilliant throw over Mekhi Blackmon for a third down conversion.

Kevin O’Connell mentioned that the Vikings had close calls in rushing Herbert and that’s true to some extent but they only created pressure on 13 of 49 drop-backs. Mostly the Chargers had the perfect combination of a quarterback who thrives in the quick passing game, a monster route-running receiver, an experienced offensive line that handled a lot of different looks, a very patient gameplan and a handful of good breaks like the trick play and Akayleb Evans’s bad bounce into Josh Palmer’s hands.

Certainly with a better shutdown corner or more effective pass rushers the result might have been different but it did not appear there was a clear answer with the current personnel to stop the Chargers’ attack. The only thing the Vikings can take solace in is that it won’t be easy for opposing teams to execute as well as Herbert did.