Kevin O'Connell Says Ed Donatell Will Remain Vikings' Defensive Play Caller
Vikings defensive coordinator Ed Donatell has taken a lot of heat for his unit's struggles this season, with criticism mounting after a dreadful performance in Sunday's loss to the Lions.
But at least for now, Donatell will remain the Vikings' defensive play caller, head coach Kevin O'Connell said on Monday. It made sense to speculate over the possibility of that drastic change, particularly with an experienced defensive coach like Mike Pettine already on the staff.
"You’re always looking at things that you think might be a possible answer to help the guys play better and be more consistent," O'Connell said, "but as of right now, no, (that's) not something I’m considering."
Donatell will call plays against the Colts on Saturday, but that doesn't mean changes aren't coming to the Vikings' defense. O'Connell hinted at that immediately following the game in Detroit — and then went into greater depth on Monday.
"I think there’s a lot of things we can do, there’s a lot of things on the table," he said. "Whether it be personnel-based, whether it be schematics-based, changing things up, changing some looks, being a little bit more aggressive at times, just picking our spots defensively to put our players in situations to be aggressive and try to make some plays."
After surrendering 464 total yards on Sunday (42 technically came on special teams), the Vikings' defense has allowed over 400 in a franchise-high five consecutive games. It's one thing to get gashed by Josh Allen and Dak Prescott; it's another to look fairly hopeless against Mac Jones, Mike White, and Jared Goff. The Vikings now rank dead last in yards allowed per game (403.7) and passing yards allowed per game (287.2) in 2022.
For much of the season, Minnesota was able to bend but not break, stiffening on third downs and in the red zone while creating big plays via takeaways and sacks. That went away completely against the Lions, who weren't sacked once and didn't turn the ball over.
The Vikings aren't going to completely change their scheme with four weeks left in the regular season. That's simply not a realistic option. But O'Connell knows they need to make adjustments, and it starts with figuring out how to get the pass rush going again. A team that had 26 sacks through the first nine games of the season has just four over the past four games, including being shut out in that department twice.
"I think we’ve thrived this year when we’ve been able to turn the football over and be around the football, try to affect the quarterback with our rush," O'Connell said. "Finding different ways to do that is something we’ve got to take a long look at, as well as how we’re deploying some of our players, and schematically. At this point in the season, it’s hard to completely revamp everything that you do, but I also think when you have enough inventory and information telling you certain things, I think we’ve got to find ways to provide different looks and change-ups to (opposing offenses)."
"I think a lot goes into it. I think coaching is very important in times like this, to make sure that although we don’t want to completely revamp, we have to be honest and look at things in a way where we can be the most competitive group we can possibly be over there and that’s what we’re doing."
What kind of adjustments can the Vikings make? If they aren't generating enough consistent pressure with their four-man pass rush, the logical move would be to get more aggressive with blitzes. There's a risk-reward aspect to sending designed pressures, but what the Vikings are doing right now hasn't been working.
Another area where they could switch things up would be to utilize more man coverage — and specifically, pressing receivers at the line of scrimmage. Whether you want to blame the scheme or the execution, the Vikings' soft zone looks have gotten picked apart all year. Getting Harrison Smith back this week should help, but there have been plenty of coverage busts and explosive plays given up even when he's been on the field.
With four weeks left in the regular season, it's on the Vikings to switch things up and figure out what they can do to avoid being shredded through the air game after game.
"I think it’s a matter of big-picture thinking at this point," O'Connell said. "I think we try to establish some of the things we think can be possible fixes on some of our issues we’ve had of late with explosive plays and teams being able to take advantage of some things they’re seeing on tape, so we’ve got to try to do that first and foremost. If we can do that in the short term and start building an inventory of things that can be put in our toolbox to help with some of those issues, then we can rely on some of those things, in addition to personnel we think gives us the best possible chance to win."
"You’ve got to make winning plays," he added. "You’ve got to eliminate some of the self-inflicted errors and execution errors, the things we take a long hard look at as coaches in all three phases to make sure we’re doing our job. At this point in the season, in the middle of December, those things need to be looked at and you need to evaluate everything. I think it would be asking a lot to completely change a scheme outright, but I do think there’s a lot of things you can really look at to try to help your players. That’s what I’m asking our coaches (to do), and that’s what I’m trying, specifically, to do myself."
Thanks for reading. Make sure to bookmark this site and check back daily for the latest Vikings news and analysis all offseason long. Also, follow me on Twitter and feel free to ask me any questions on there.
