Vikings Get Another Last Minute Win with Flores Signing
Joe Oberle
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Vikings Territory Breakdown Podcast:
The Vikings made news during Super Bowl week by signing Brian Flores to be their next defensive coordinator. As many of the potential DC choices for GM Kwesi Adolfo-Mensah were signed away by other teams, the situation grew a bit desperate and it appeared the Purple might have to settle for the in-house choice, Mike Pettine—not exactly a name to rile up the fanbase. But as things looked their grimmest, the Vikings signed Flores, who was considered at one time to be their first choice. Another last-minute scoring drive by the Vikings, so to speak.
Flores comes in as a direct counterpoint to outgoing DC Ed Donatell, whose zone-heavy shell defense frustrated and confused the populace and even some of his players. Flores likes to blitz early and often, a category the Vikings were ranked 24th in this past season under Donatell. Flores should bring in a new look, a new scheme and a new energy to the defense, which we all know vastly underperformed in 2022.
The question remains how Flores will populate his defense and how many of the current Vikings defenders will fit into that new defense. Would Patrick Peterson, who really liked Donatell’s zone defense, be successful in Flore’s man scheme? Does Eric Kendricks, with his big cap number and, allegedly, deteriorating speed, return to form in the new defense or hit the road? Can Danielle Hunter and Harrison Smith actually flourish in the blitz-heavy scheme, with Smith returning to his Zimmer-era role of blitzing from all over the field?
A lot of questions to answer with the new acquisition, but a lot of excitement in the speculation. And Joe Oberle, from vikingsterritory and purplePTSDand Mark Craig from the Star Tribune and startribune.com will be online with the Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast to try to answer them. That and some Super Bowl talk/predictions as we head toward the big game on Sunday. Tune in and check it out.
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