SKOL Searching: Ideas the Vikings should, shouldn't steal from the Eagles and Chiefs
The ramifications of Sunday’s Super Bowl run much deeper than what’s etched into trophies and displayed on stadium banners.
It affects the entire landscape of the NFL. An inevitable fact in the aftermath of the biggest game of the year. Whether a smart process or not, every NFL team that didn’t reach the Super Bowl is trying to peek behind the curtain of the ones who did and replicate it. Coaches are poached, schemes are copied and overall philosophies are tapped into.
Last season’s Rams victory vindicated the organization’s trade for Matt Stafford and its systemwide all-in approach. Sure enough, a slew of mid-tier quarterbacks were traded the following offseason as the NFL saw a justification for making the moves.
From the low end in Matt Ryan and Carson Wentz – who were both essentially traded for third-round picks – to the high end in Russell Wilson, numerous teams felt they could replicate the magic Los Angeles captured and ride it to a Super Bowl of their own. None of them worked out.
The Vikings tried to do it in a different way, hiring Kevin O’Connell – a move they hoped would transfer some of the Rams’ offensive success to Minnesota. O’Connell brought with him the hopes of replicating Los Angeles’ defensive system that was rooted in the same Vic Fangio-style concepts that they later hired his former disciple Ed Donatell to implement. The result was a mixed-bag approach. O’Connell was undoubtedly successful as a first-year head coach despite significant shortcomings on defense.
Knowing change has already come to the coaching staff and will soon come to the roster, it’s easy to imagine the Vikings (and many teams in the league) taking some of the ideas that made the Chiefs and Eagles successful this season. So let’s parse through what the Vikings should and shouldn’t take away from Philadelphia and Kansas City.
Do: Understand a rebuild doesn’t take forever
The Vikings sit at a similar crossroads that the Eagles found themselves after the end of the 2019 season. Philadelphia lost in the Wild Card round after a 9-8 season. They’d just signed Carson Wentz to a massive extension the offseason before but were already with their doubts. So in the second round of the draft, they selected Jalen Hurts. The team took a step back the following year, going 4-11-1 as Wentz’s play deteriorated. Quickly though, through the shedding of Wentz’s contract and hitting on the Hurts pick, the Eagles were able to turn their fortunes around.
As Minnesota once again contemplates whether to push forward for the playoffs or take a small step back, Philadelphia’s path should be instructive as to what it can look like. A rebuild doesn’t need to mean years of sitting in the NFC North basement. With Justin Jefferson, TJ Hockenson and a pair of All-Pro level offensive tackles – there’s no reason that the Vikings can’t be better in two or three years than they’ve been at any point during the Kirk Cousins era.
That requires the hardest step in team building: finding the quarterback. But the reality is every successful team had to make a hard decision about their quarterback position somewhere down the line.
Now is the time.
Do: Get the quarterback before you’re desperate
When the Chiefs drafted Mahomes, they were coming off four consecutive winning seasons and three playoff appearances – including back-to-back losses in the second round. The offense ranked in the top 10 in two of those four years and never dropped below 16th. Yet Kansas City still decided to upgrade, bet on an unproven player in Mahomes and have made the AFC Championship in every season he’s played.
The Eagles’ success before Hurts was impressive as well. A Super Bowl win came in 2017 followed by two consecutive playoff appearances and one playoff win. That was all before Philadelphia selected Hurts and made him a starter a year and a half later.
Neither team was afraid to say good wasn’t good enough – and both saw the opportunity that a talented rookie quarterback could bring them.
Minnesota is positioned to take a similar approach if they want it. They aren’t quite desperate for a quarterback – Cousins played well last season and showed he can quarterback a top-10 offense – and that’s exactly where they want to be. The Vikings were once that desperate team that needed a quarterback immediately no matter the cost. It made them reach and draft Christian Ponder in 2011.
Nobody would have blinked had the Chiefs not traded up from pick No. 27 to No. 10 to select Mahomes. The same goes for the Hurts selection in 2020.
With Cousins creeping up in age, finding Minnesota’s quarterback of the future should be a priority no matter what side of the Cousins debate you’re on. And doing it before the situation is dire allows for plenty more flexibility. Consider both the Eagles and Chiefs as success stories in this strategy, but even the likes of Green Bay and San Francisco tried to do this and then realized their older option was better. Either way, they were operating from a position of strength.
The goal for the Vikings should be to find their franchise quarterback as soon as possible. It worked and allowed both Super Bowl teams to quickly pivot to the next phase of their franchise, which brings us to the next directive…
Don’t: Go all-in next year
A trait of the Los Angeles Rams team that won the Super Bowl a year ago and one Philadelphia embraced this year has been a full-throttle, all-in approach.
The Rams did it as aggressively as any team we’ve seen – trading for Stafford and Von Miller, signing Odell Beckham Jr. and adding them to the already stacked roster with Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp. It didn’t matter the salary or draft capital situation down the road. The goal was to win the Super Bowl and they achieved it.
The Eagles – to a lesser extent – followed a similar playbook. They traded a first-round pick for A.J. Brown, acquired Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and signed James Bradberry in the offseason. Midway through the year with the team struggling with their run defense, Philadelphia went out and signed Linval Joseph, Ndamukong Suh and Robert Quinn. The unit finished as a top-10 run defense.
Every year moving forward, one of these uber-aggressive teams will make it deep into the playoffs. But that team won’t be Minnesota next year, even if they take an aggressive approach.
The Eagles and Rams had what the Vikings do not: a mostly complete roster that needed just one or two pieces to fill the gaps.
Brown was signed to help beef up the receiving core, but Philadelphia already had Devonta Smith and Dallas Goedert and one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. The additions in the defensive secondary were sorely needed, but the Eagles had a supremely talented defensive line with Haason Reddick, Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Brandon Graham and rookie Jordan Davis. Philadelphia also had the cap space to make it work with Hurts still on his rookie deal.
Minnesota is not in a similar position. With an expensive quarterback and an aging defense, the Vikings' needs are bountiful. Interior offensive lineman, running back, another receiving threat and – frankly – better defenders at every level of the defense.
Pushing for contention next year only sacrifices the team’s chances of building a sustainable or serious Super Bowl threat.
Don’t: Rely on draft luck
The Kansas City Chiefs 2022 draft is a cautionary tale. On Sunday, seven rookies will get significant playing time. The team’s top three picks – Trent McDuffie, George Karlaftis and Skyy Moore – all start, as will running back Isaiah Pacheco and defensive backs Jaylen Watson and Joshua Williams. Defensive back Bryan Cook will also rotate in on certain coverages.
Kansas City has been praised for moving on from Tyreek Hill and letting its youth thrive in what would otherwise be a down year for most teams – but that model is not sustainable. The best drafts often only have two or three starters, most of whom won’t emerge for several years. Anticipating a draft like Kansas City’s is a fool's errand.
What the Vikings can take from the Chiefs are the positions they chose to prioritize. The first three positions Kansas City drafted were cornerback, EDGE and wide receiver. They finished the draft with three defensive backs on Day 3, all of whom have played key roles this season. Other than the third-round selection of Leo Chenal, every early and mid-round pick was at a premium position. And they waited until the seventh round to select Pacheco, who has been a difference-maker in the running game.
There’s no way to forecast or predict having a draft turn out like the Chiefs – so Minnesota can’t rely on or hope for that reality. The best they can do is prioritize the best positions possible. If the Vikings hit on the draft, that will be the reason why.
Don’t: Ignore the run game
By the time the Vikings made it to the playoffs, their run game was practically non-existent. As much as the passing game should and is prioritized by the NFL and Minnesota, both the Eagles and Chiefs have shown the tremendous value of an effective running game – even if the two differ widely in how they implement it.
The Eagles use it as their catalyst. Philadelphia ranks first in rush attempts and fourth in yards per game. Meanwhile, the Chiefs ranked 25th in attempts and 21st in yards. What they have in common is their effectiveness.
Both rank in the top 10 in success rate and EPA/play. The Eagles rank first in both categories. Both are consistently using the run game to get into advantageous down and distance situations and then can capitalize on it with the passing game. The Eagles use it more often to take advantage of Hurts’ running ability, but the Chiefs' success shows Minnesota doesn’t need a dual-threat quarterback to have a thriving running game. What they do need is a solid interior offensive line and the creativity in schematics to make it work – both were absent in Minnesota last year.
