Breaking down the offensive and defensive schemes of the Minnesota Vikings, who the Detroit Lions will square off against in Week 7. The Detroit Lions (4-1) will take on the Minnesota Vikings (5-0) in Week 7 of the 2024 regular season with divisional implications on the line. One of the unique things about this matchup is that both teams have retained their head coach and all three coordinators from the previous season, making this the first opponent the Lions have faced in 2024 where there is not a new coach/scheme to prepare for. Additionally, because the Vikings are a division opponent, the Lions coaching staff has seen this coaching staff execute their game plan twice in the last 10 months. Let’s take a look at the Vikings' coaching staff and any changes to their offensive and defensive schemes. Vikings head coach: Kevin O’Connell Kevin O’Connell played quarterback at San Diego State and was drafted in the third round of the 2008 draft by the New England Patriots. He only lasted one season in New England and was claimed by the Lions at 2009 cutdowns. He spent five days with the Lions before they traded him to the Jets. From there he bounced around the league before leaving the NFL in 2012. O’Connell quickly joined the NFL coaching ranks, working as the Browns quarterbacks coach in 2015 and as a special projects coach for the 49ers in 2016. When he joined Washington’s staff in 2017, it set him on his path to becoming a head coach. O’Connell held several jobs, eventually working his way up to offensive coordinator, but when head coach Jay Gruden was fired in 2019, he passed O’Connell’s name to his former disciple Sean McVay, who hired him as the Rams offensive coordinator. After two seasons molding the Rams' offense, he was hired as head coach of the Vikings in 2022. Offensive coordinator: Wes Phillips Like O’Connell, Wes Phillips was a college quarterback (UTEP) who joined the coaching ranks soon after his career concluded. His first exposure to the NFL was in 2007 with the Cowboys, where he held a variety of offensive coaching roles, including coaching the tight ends. In 2014, he joined Washington’s coaching staff (TE coach), where he eventually crossed paths with O’Connell. Phillips also moved on from Washington to the Rams (TE coach) and then followed O’Connell to Minnesota as his offensive coordinator in 2022. O’Connell’s West Coast offensive scheme Phillips is the technical offensive coordinator, but the Vikings offensive scheme is designed and called by O’Connell. While O’Connell leans on a lot of the West Coast teachings of Gruden and McVay, there are some variations he added in Minnesota. Pre-snap movement, play-action, end-arounds, screens, and outside-zone run concepts are all principal concepts, but O’Connell adapts his scheme to personnel as well as any coach in the NFL. For example, in 2023, the Vikings rushing attack was dismal, finishing 29th in team rushing yards, 22nd in yards per carry, last in rushing touchdowns, 27th in explosive run plays, and 31st in first-down conversions via the run. As a result, the Vikings adapted and leaned heavily on the passing game, where they were first in the league in total passing yards, seventh in passing yards per attempt, fourth in passing touchdowns, and fourth in first downs gained via the pass. In 2024, they’ve strived for more balance. They’re still in the bottom-10 in the NFL in all rushing categories listed above, but they’re less likely to abandon the running game than they were in previous seasons. Surprisingly, their passing statistical numbers are also significantly lower in most categories, except passing touchdowns where they’re efficient, checking in at fourth in the NFL with 11. So how are they scoring at such a high rate while statistically regressing? It’s because the Vikings' defense is setting them up with short fields, forcing turnovers, and scoring their own touchdowns. Defensive coordinator: Brian Flores Flores got his start in the NFL in 2008 with the Patriots, the same year O’Connell was drafted by New England, so their relationship is over 15 years in the making. He held multiple positions over his 10 years with the Patriots and eventually landed the head coaching job with the Dolphins. Flores’ exit from Miami in 2021 is full of controversy, and despite his teams struggling to win, his creativity and defensive acumen remained high. In 2022 he joined the Steelers as a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach, then springboarded that opportunity into a defensive coordinator job in Minnesota in 2023. Flores’ 34 base defensive scheme Flores’ defense is one of the most creative and complex in the NFL. His aggressive nature and pressure-diverse scheme set him apart from any other defensive coordinator in the league. For example, over his tenure with the Vikings, he not only blitzes more than any other team, but he will also drop eight into coverage (rushing three) more than any other team. They will frequently overload the line of scrimmage (they lead the league in six-man fronts, using them 35.9% of the time) and then force the offense to guess if they’re bringing five, six, or seven players via the blitz (they blitz 41.1% of the time, heading into Week 7), or only rushing two or three and clogging the passing lanes by dropping eight or nine players. “Yeah, it’s the two extremes,” Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said in 2023. “In certain situations, offensively, we always talk about, ‘Hey, they’re either max-coverage or max-pressure,’ as a general philosophy. A lot of teams do that down in the red zone, but Flores has kind of taken that to a new extreme. At any time, at any moment. It’s been fun this week trying to dissect their defense. They do a lot and it’s hard, but our staff’s done a nice job trying to narrow down some things that we can key in on.” This disguise up front lends itself to one-on-one or free rushers, which has resulted in lots of production. Per NextGenStats, the Vikings lead the league in pressures with 83 (that number is higher per PFF, but lower in the team rankings), lead the NFL in quarterback knockdowns with 30, are second in hurries (13.2%), and are third in the league in sacks with 20. This pressure also leads to turnovers, and the Vikings currently average 2.6 takeaways a game, second most in the NFL. Behind the disguised front, Flores runs multiple variations of zone defense. His most prominent looks—around two-thirds of the time—stem from Quarters Coverage and variations of Cover-2. In both sets, they play with at least two defensive backs high in coverage, with either man or zone coverage underneath. But as complex and disguised as Flores’ scheme is, there are also tendencies that can be identified. On early downs, the Vikings like to show Cover-1 with a single-high safety, man coverage on the wide receivers, and stick the box with seven or eight. But at the snap, they will roll the safety to the side in which they bring pressure, then drop a defensive back deep into a Cover-2 shell. Underneath, they may drop into a zone shell, or bring the blitz, with a zone coverage behind it. The 33rd Team’s James Foster illustrated this in a film breakdown of the Vikings' defense earlier this season (it’s worth a read if you’re inclined). pic.twitter.com/hPh4Z4cSFf— James Foster (@JamesFosterNFL) September 25, 2024 The idea here is to complicate quarterback reads, then drop coverage behind the blitz, playing into traditional offensive tendencies, such as throwing into the blitz. This disguise leads to interceptions when defenders drop into zones in which a blitzing defender is vacating, as the quarterback presumes there will be an open passing lane. To counter this, the Lions will need to do two things well. First, They’ll need to win their one-on-one blocking assignments, giving Jared Goff the time he needs to adjust to the defense taking away a zone that would be traditionally open. For that to work, the Lions skill players will need to win early in routes and be ready for alert and hot routes. Second, if the Lions offensive line can be bullies in the run game and bring the aggression to the defender's side of the ball, they’ll force the Vikings to bring more heat and drop fewer players, thus opening more real estate for the Lions’ pass catchers to work. There’s a variety of other concepts that have led to the Vikings' success, and Flores will be adjusting on the fly during the game as well, but Ben Johnson has seen this defense twice before and found success in his approach. In 2023, the Vikings only gave up 30 or more points three times over 17 games, but the Lions are responsible for two of those outings. The Vikings have yet to allow a team to score 30 points this season—the Packers were closest with 29—but Detroit has scored over 40 points in each of their last two games. This will be a strength-on-strength must-see game of the weekend.