Courtesy of Vikings Vikings defensive coordinator Ed Donatell is in the hot seat with fans calling for his firing after the team's season-ending loss to the New York Giants.
After his defense allowed 400 or more yards for a franchise record fifth consecutive game, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Ed Donatell stood at the press podium unfazed on Wednesday.
“There’s no question we’ll come out of this,” Donatell said.
There’s also been no answer.
The final four weeks of the regular season could be a trial run for the Vikings in remedying their bend—”oh no, it’s broken” defense.
However, Donatell in his Wednesday press conference appeared adamant on trusting the process that has led Minnesota to allow the most yards this season through 14 weeks—leaving few answers in the air on how the Vikings will correct the issue.
Ed Donatell Defends His Scheme, Blames Vikings’ Execution
In a December 14 press conference, Donatell defended his install of a 3-4 defense this season, saying the defense’s recent struggles are a matter of execution, not scheme.
“I think it’s really more execution, just getting tighter,” Donatell said, putting the responsibility on the players to dig themselves out of a rut.
It’s a similar song and dance Mike Zimmer did for his final two years running the Vikings defense as the unit slipped from its former glory, saying at times he felt like he was coaching kindergartners.
Donatell, 65, has embraced the same mentality, currying favor like a lame duck by leaning on a process that will work itself out if the players stick to the script.
“That’s what we’re working for, that’s what the vision is. What do you do when you don’t have it? Heck, you’ve gotta roll your sleeves up and get to work,” Donatell said. “That’s what we’re doing. Do it in harmony and do it together, bring everybody’s energy. That’s what you do. I can’t guarantee it in five days, six days, seven days, but eventually, we’ll be there because we know what we’re doing and we’ll do it.”
When asked whether he would blitz more, Donatell declined calmly.
“We like our four-man rush and they have been so close so many times. We get a lot of hurries from this group. And it’s just that extra little thing if you can hold the coverage just a little bit longer a lot of those rushes will work with four,” Donatell added.
Blitzing May Not Be the Answer for Vikings
The problematic part regarding Donatell’s ambivalence to fixing the defense is that he may be right — blitzing may not be the solution.
“In the last five games, the Vikings rank 27th in pressure rate (28.3 percent), which accounts for sacks, quarterback hits and hurries,” The Athletic’s Alec Lewis wrote. “TruMedia tracks blitzes as defense snaps with more than five pass rushers. Over this five-game stretch, the Vikings have blitzed on 24.4 percent of snaps, ranking 16th in blitz rate. … The blitz percentage is also a notable increase from the Vikings’ first eight games of the season when Minnesota blitzed on only 15.5 percent of dropbacks.”
The Vikings are blitzing more but seeing less effectiveness—likely a byproduct of Za’Darius Smith being dinged up. However, Danielle Hunter hasn’t emerged how he’d like to after Smith started commanding more attention from opposing offensive fronts.
Zimmer manufactured more pressure by blitzing last season, but that worked to no avail.
Donatell may be right, but the Vikings only have four more games against lesser offenses to see the scheme through.
If it doesn’t prove true, it will be too late to make any fixes with the postseason on the horizon.
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Vikings’ Ed Donatell Deflects Blame After Lions Loss