Vikings Should Get the Beef Back on Sunday
Dustin Baker
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The Minnesota Vikings were flogged in the middle of the defense by the San Francisco 49ers in Week 12.
Why? Because they didn’t have a starting defensive line. That’ll do it.
Head coach Mike Zimmer piecemealed a solution comprised of backup players and hope. It did not work – at least not to the tune of a victory. Put bluntly, the Vikings took on one of the NFL’s best rushing minds in Kyle Shanahan with a hodgepodge of dudes up front that doesn’t typically start.
It’s why the Vikings lost in Santa Clara.
But there is some optimism this week. Michael Pierce was taken off the Injured Reserve list after an elbow injury, setting a path to play on Sunday at the Detroit Lions. What’s more, Pierce’s big-bodied pal, Dalvin Tomlinson, could return too.
In relief of Pierce, second-year defensive tackle Armon Watts has performed wonderfully, focusing on rushing the opposing quarterback to the utmost. In that regard, Watts is the anti-Shamar Stephen.
Watts won’t be fully relegated to the bench with the return of Pierce and Tomlinson. He deserves ample defensive snaps. However, the Vikings most trying malady in 2021 is stopping the run. Watt’s run-stopping grade from Pro Football Focus through 12 weeks is just 47.5.
Stuffing the rush is not Watts’ forte, whereas that skillset is generally attributed to Pierce and Tomlinson. And with the beef coming back, Zimmer’s defense should be able to thwart running backs with more consistency.
Through 11 games, the Vikings rank 29th in Rushing Defense DVOA and 30th in Rushing Yards allowed. They’re not good against the run – terrible is a better adjective to describe the performance.
Welcoming back Pierce and Tomlinson is a beefy, last-ditch effort to rectify this weird rushing defense. Historically – aside from 2020 – Minnesota stops the run quite competently under Zimmer. Amid the last two seasons, though, the plot changed. Zimmer flatly cannot stop opposing running backs.
Pierce and Tomlinson were the Vikings keynote defensive line acquisitions during the last two offseasons. Before Tomlinson’s COVID-list absence, the ex-New York Giant played well for the Vikings, accruing a 73.8 PFF grade. Pierce, on the other hand, hasn’t seen the field all that much. He opted out of the 2020 season for COVID fears and has been habitually hobbled in 2021.
For the return on investment – plus, a clean bill of health (finally) – this is Minnesota’s golden opportunity to situate the two large men side-by-side and finally begin stuffing some ball carriers.
Every time an opposing running back touches the football versus the Vikings in 2020, that player, on average, gains 4.8 yards per carry. That is morbidly dreadful and ranks 32nd in the NFL. Dead last.
Zimmer needs his beef to fix it, and the meat is trending to return versus Detroit.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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