Five things the KC Chiefs must do to beat the Minnesota Vikings

4. Be ready to counter-attack the blitz

After a horrendous 2022 season on defense, the Minnesota Vikings moved on from defensive coordinator Ed Donatell in favor of former Dolphins head coach and Patriots assistant, Brian Flores.

It's pretty clear that their defense has been much better. One strategy that Flores has decided to use is blitzing. He blitzes A LOT. Flores has deployed a blitz on about 61% of his opposing quarterbacks' dropbacks this year, resulting in six sacks and a stat line of 63-84, 657 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 117.0 passer rating on 97 total drop backs. For reference, Steve Spagnuolo has blitzed at about a 35% rate this season. The Vikings blitzed Justin Herbert in Week 3 on 42 of his 49 dropbacks and were torched for 317 yards, three touchdowns, and just one sack.

Minnesota's best blitzers are rookie linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. and veteran safety Harrison Smith. In Week 4 alone, Smith generated three sacks and four pressures on nine total pass rush snaps, including a forced fumble on rookie quarterback Bryce Young that resulted in a fumble return for a touchdown to give Minnesota the lead in Week 4.

The overall point is that Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes need to be preparing to face a lot of five and six-man rushes. With a questionable wide receiver group that's had issues getting open, blitzing could be fairly effective, though Mahomes is an exceptional scrambler. It's possible that Minnesota may try to catch Kansas City off guard and not blitz as much, but I don't expect that. The Chiefs need to be ready to run a fair amount of screens as well as use their running backs in the passing game.