Insights on how Caleb Williams and Thomas Brown can effectively attack Brian Flores' defensive scheme in Week 12
The Chicago Bears are getting geared up for yet another divisional game on Sunday and one that'll be an even tougher challenge for the Bears' offensive unit.Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator Brian Flores has been terrorizing opposing offenses with his defensive scheme over the last two seasons.In two games against the Bears in 2023, Flores held […]
The Chicago Bears are getting geared up for yet another divisional game on Sunday and one that'll be an even tougher challenge for the Bears' offensive unit.
Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator Brian Flores has been terrorizing opposing offenses with his defensive scheme over the last two seasons.
In two games against the Bears in 2023, Flores held Chicago to under 15 points in both games, although the Bears managed to squeak out one win.
Through the first 11 weeks of the season, Flores has continued to frustrate some of the top offensive minds in the game, outside of Los Angeles Rams' Sean McVay. On Sunday, it'll be McVay's former disciple Thomas Brown who will be in charge of attacking Flores' defense.
"It's hard to find weaknesses in this defense," Brown said on Thursday. "I don't know Brian Flores all that well, but I've met him a couple of times. I think one of the biggest compliments you can get as a coach is your unit takes on your personality. They are aggressive, they are attacking, they are opportunistic."
The Vikings currently are tied for the league lead with 21 turnovers, but most importantly, entering Sunday's game, the Vikings have the 2nd-highest blitz rate in the league (39.1). Something Flores has been very proud of during his time in Minnesota.
"He's gonna blitz you. He's the king of cover zero blitz, and finding a bunch of different ways to to do it," quarterback Caleb Williams said on Wednesday. "Us being decisive, us having a plan for all of that. And then from there, get the ball to your playmakers, run the ball well and efficiently. When they give you shots and give you explosive plays, you make those plays, and it affects the play calling for the defense when you're able to hit explosive plays, or when you're able to get the ball out and be decisive when they're sending all these different exotic blitzes. You got to find other ways to attack."
Getting the ball out quick is going to be the key to avoid the heavy pressure deployed by the Vikings' pass rush. Last week in his first game under Brown, Williams averaged 2.42 seconds to throw, easily his quickest mark of the season thus far. Against the blitz, Williams had a 94.5 PFF grade, the highest of any QB vs. the blitz in Week 11.
Attacking the blitz comes into two areas: pre-snap and post-snap. From what we saw on Sunday, Williams did a great job pointing out the blitz before the snap and then knowing where his hot routes are on the given play.
"I think I can do a lot better, especially this week, knowing that they're going to try and blitz me," Williams added. "When they do the bring those blitzes, being decisive, getting the ball in my hand, getting into my playmakers, and then let them go. I think it's leaning on those guys first and foremost."
To get a better idea of how opposing teams have gotten the better of the Vikings' defense this season, I spoke with our own Vikings expert Tyler Forness to get his insight on what areas Brown and Williams can look to attack.
"The way to beat Brian Flores’ defense is pretty simple: protect the quarterback and pepper the flats and deep middle with dagger concepts," Forness explained. "The problem is, most teams can’t do that…
"The pass rush for the Vikings is relentless and one of the best in the league. They are the only team in the NFL with three players that have 7.0 or more sacks (Andrew Van Ginkel: 8.0, Pat Jones II and Jonathan Greenard: 7.0) and they come at you in a bevy of ways with expert level simulated pressures and creative blitzes. If you can stop the pass rush like the Los Angeles Rams did, it’s certainly possible to take advantage of this defense, but I don’t think the Bears have the horses on the OL to do that."
The Bears definitely don't have the capability to do that up-front but they found an answer to get around that with the quick outside passing game. Just take a look at Williams' passing chart from Week 11.
The next step in the progression for Williams in Brown's offense is going to be mixing in the deep crossers into the attack and they have the skillset to pull that off. And it'll be important to take those shots when they're there against Flores and this defense.
The last thing the Bears' offense can do on Sunday is play with fear against this defense, which is something Brown wanted to emphasize to his players this week.
"To me, always first and foremost, play with no fear," Brown added. "We're not gonna coach scared, they're not gonna play scared. They let it rip. We don't fear failure or fear mistakes, you learn from those opportunities and continue to keep swinging."
Thomas Brown listed among top head coaching candidates and he’ll have seven more weeks to prove himself to Chicago or other clubs
He’s going to be a hot name to follow.
