How the Vikings made a key offensive adjustment, and what it shows

By Carmen Vitali
FOX Sports NFC North Writer

The Minnesota Vikings are 5-1, and while they haven't enjoyed the most convincing of wins, their best football may still be ahead of them.

There are many reasons to be encouraged by what we've seen so far out of new head coach Kevin O'Connell. He operates out of the Shanahan/McVay offensive tree, most recently calling plays for the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams prior to getting the head job for the Vikings. 

O'Connell is installing his own version of that Shanahan system, one quarterback Kirk Cousins has spent his whole career in. And there's more evidence by the week that this might be its best iteration yet. Not only do the Vikings have the talent in their offensive skill players, they also have a playcaller who knows how to adjust.

That's precisely what O'Connell did in last Sunday's win over the Miami Dolphins. 

Things didn't start out well for the Vikings. They didn't get a first down until over halfway into the second quarter as their offense was stifled by what the Dolphins' defensive scheme did against them.

See, Minnesota operates primarily out of 11 personnel, opting to put three wide receivers on the field with a running back and a tight end. This is a league-wide standard, and because of it, defenses are mostly relegated to deploying their nickel packages to contend with more receivers. Most teams run match defenses which are intended to counter the offensive personnel.

But Miami deviated from the norm. They decided to stay in their base alignment, basically issuing a challenge to Minnesota: "Hey, we have some linemen who can bring pressure before anything develops in the passing game — and even if that breaks down, we're comfortable having cornerback Xavien Howard on Justin Jefferson."

It was a display of complete faith in their personnel. Right, wrong or indifferent, it worked for the first part of the game. The Vikings were totally stagnant … until O'Connell switched things up and actually matched Miami's defense.

 "They played base defense to 11, which is not something we should really have to be taken out of the way we want to play, but they also have some really good players up front," said O'Connell. "So big, strong guys up front and taking you out of some of the core things you want to do."

O'Connell then sent out another player in the backfield and we saw a lot more 21 personnel looks, with two backs, one tight end and two receivers out there. It worked immediately.

On the first snap when the Vikings had a fullback in, Miami was in their nickel defense. It went for a Vikings first down, anyway. The Dolphins then quickly went back to base where O'Connell stuck with 21 and this is how it played out.

The defense is in some type of modified ‘bear' front to help create one-on-one matchups with blockers. The extra back helped give Cousins more time, picking up the fifth rusher as the Dolphins went to blitz. Minnesota ended up having seven players in protection and only a two-man route to further help Cousins, and the play itself doesn't take long to develop. As even another layer of protection, it's play action, which further mitigates the pressure.

There are layers to this.

The Vikings basically bank on both Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen getting open. Spoiler alert: Jefferson does. He nabs the pass thanks to the fullback selling the potential for play action as he cuts to the back side. This also pulls the linebackers down and lets Jefferson get behind them for what ends up being a 20-yard gain.

The play continues a drive that finally ends up in the end zone for the Vikings' first touchdown of the day. 

"It was never going to be a game where we could just pin our ears back and just turn our offense loose, because the second you do that here, I have some experience here, where you could end up with a five- or six-turnover type of day. We wanted to account for a lot of things, maybe play it a little bit more conservative and as we tried to find our footing offensively, our guys just battled."

 Not only did O'Connell make this adjustment, he stuck with it. Then it all culminated in a back-breaking 53-yard touchdown run by running back Dalvin Cook that put the Vikings up by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

Again, it's a two-back set. It's a front-side zone run and the offense does a great job creating double teams to contend with Miami's front. The fullback and tight end stay in to double the outside defender. Both Ed Ingram and Ezra Cleveland then can double the defensive tackle and you get a great hole for Cook to slide through.

All Cook needs to do on this is stretch, then cut back — and he does just that. The goal is to give him just one guy to beat and he does after safety Jevon Holland overshoots the gap a little bit. Cook is then off to the races and into the end zone, all but sealing the game for Minnesota.

"For Dalvin to pop that long run then, that’s an attrition type of run where our guys are leaning on him," O'Connell said. "They were a tough front to run the ball against, but you pop one like that and get yourself to a two-touchdown lead."

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.