Ed Donatell, players vs. scheme and who's to blame for the failings of the Vikings' defense
How do you know if a defensive coordinator is good at his job?
Take Mike Zimmer, for example. The former Minnesota Vikings’ head coach put together one of the most impressive runs as a defensive leader that you will find in recent NFL history. From 2009, when he was Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator, through 2019, Zimmer led nine top-10 defenses in points allowed in 11 years. Then between 2020 and 2021, his teams gave up more than 900 points.
Maybe Zimmer lost his fastball. The game changes quick, ya know. But it’s hard to say that for sure when you look at his mentor, NFL legend Bill Parcells. The Big Tuna had the No. 2 defense with the Cowboys in 2003 and then ranked 27th in 2004. And that wasn’t even the first time it happened to him. In 1994, his Patriots were a solid 12th and by 1995 they dropped to 25th in points against.
The great Vic Fangio saw his Chicago Bears defense struggle in 2016, ranking 24th in points allowed and dead last in takeaways. Two years later, the Bears were No. 1 in points against and No. 1 in takeaways.
Speaking of Fangio, his defensive coordinator in Denver Ed Donatell led a 2021 Broncos unit that gave up the third fewest points in the NFL. The following year, as Minnesota’s DC, his club put together one of the worst defensive seasons in Vikings history.
After getting clobbered by Daniel Jones and the Giants’ offense in the first round, the Vikings’ brass was forced to play a game of Who’s Fault Is It Anyway? with Donatell’s defense.
Kevin O’Connell could not answer that question at his end-of-year press conference held a little more than 24 hours before firing his DC.
“We know, statistically, that standard we fell below what we hoped to be, both schematically and our performance on the field,” O’Connell said. “So I think it's very, very important we look at it from the standpoint of the why? Why did it happen? What were the contributing factors that were both in our control and out of our control, and make sure that we're facing that head-on from an accountability standpoint, and then ultimately doing whatever we need to do to make sure we're able to show some improvement in that area.”
From an accountability standpoint, the head coach only released a short statement after Donatell’s firing. It did not include any reference to the head coach or general manager playing a role in the defense’s failure.
What about those other questions he posed? Why did it happen? What were the contributing factors that were in and out of their control? Put in other words: How much goes on Donatell? By firing him, they are implying that the answer is: a lot.
Picking apart players vs. scheme might be the toughest task in football. Former Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur used to say, “It’s the players, not the plays.” But that was a layered comment. During the 2017 season, he pushed every right button to maximize the talents of his star receivers Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, cobbled together a strong running game after Dalvin Cook went down and put QB Case Keenum in position to have the best season of his career. Players over plays can mean focusing the plays on what the players do best.
From that perspective, the Vikings’ defense failed. Linebacker Eric Kendricks had his worst season since 2015 in coverage, per PFF. Harrison Smith had his worst graded PFF season since 2013. Linebacker Jordan Hicks had his worst coverage season of his career. Corner Chandon Sullivan allowed the most receptions into his coverage of any nickel corner in the NFL just one year removed from ranking in the top 10 among slot corners in yards allowed per snap. Cam Dantzler’s QB rating allowed went from 70.3 to 123.0.
Not every player failed in Donatell’s defense. Patrick Peterson ranked among the best corners by PFF, Dalvin Tomlinson had a good year and Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter were back to their dominant ways. But there were far too many career low seasons around a nearly completely healthy defense to argue that the scheme fit.
When Donatell was asked about scheme vs. execution following a miserable performance at Detroit, he leaned toward execution. To reference coach John McKay, when it came to Donatell’s execution, it turned out the Vikings were in favor of it.
Throughout the year O’Connell talked of playing “tighter” coverage and blitzing more. The Vikings did a little of both but not enough to keep Giants receivers from running wild at US Bank Stadium. They leaned heavily on players like Smith, Hunter and Peterson coming up with a big sack or interception in important moments but eventually that ran out.
The final nail in the coffin was Donatell saying it was the defense’s “time to shine” just before one of their worst performances.
If Donatell were on trial for crimes against defense, the prosecution could put together a pretty strong case. But prosecutors would be foolish not to press charges against a bunch of others as accessories to those infractions.
How about Rick Spielman, whose drafts between 2015-2022 yielded one quality defensive player — and he plays for the Cowboys. How about the patchwork job by the front office, who found free agents that didn’t fit and drafted three defensive backs and a linebacker who didn’t contribute? How about keeping expensive players whose writing was on the wall under Zimmer?
How about the head coach, who is in charge of the entire coaching staff, not just the offense, not getting the proposed changes implemented? After indicating the team would turn over every stone following the Detroit loss, they allowed at least 24 points in every game except the meaningless Week 18 contest in Chicago and 431 yards to the Giants.
We can’t leave out the players themselves. Against the G-Men, they needed to make one stop and couldn’t pull it off. The standard wasn’t even particularly high to get the team to the divisional round considering the offense had a decent day. Nobody stepped up.
It takes a village to rank 28th in points and 31st in yards allowed. Donatell will be painted as the bad man who caused all the troubles when the Vikings eventually hire a fresh, new defensive coordinator who has all the perfect, brilliant, modern, collaborative ideas. But hopefully the new leaders invested in mirrors at TCO Performance Center because they’ll be destined to have the same results if they don’t learn from mistakes of the past.
As they approach a new hire, personnel needs to be closely considered. The defense needs to get younger and more aggressive. Around the league, QBs performed worse against the blitz this year than in years past, maybe because of increased creativity in pass rushing by DCs or because DCs were forced to aim for big plays knowing that everything is stacked against the defense.
So Who’s fault was it anyway? Everyone. Only some of the folks in the building get a chance to correct their mistakes and Ed Donatell does not.
