beast
  • beast
  • Select Member Topic Starter
a year ago


At one point you could trace every offense in the NFL to either Bill Walsh, Don Coryell, or Ron Earhardt/Ray Perkins. Meanwhile, almost every defensive coordinator in the NFL worked with someone from the Dick LaBeau tree or the Tony Dungy tree or the Bill Parcells tree. When NFL coaches innovate successful systems and concepts, other teams try to copy them immediately and eventually, the best branches from the original tree make their way across the NFL. 

Evaluating what systems the teams in the NFC North will be using this year is a good way to foresee how the team will perform. Let's go over them. 


Minnesota Vikings


Offense

The Vikings have gone all in on the McVay offense, minus the wide zone setups. Head Coach Kevin O'Connell was offensive coordinator for the Rams in the year that they revamped their offense for Matt Stafford, turning to a ton of empty and a lot of Cooper Kupp targeting, and that is the offense that O'Connell brought to Minnesota. It is similar to early Rams McVay and what Matt LaFleur runs, but it's certainly more aggressive and pass-centric.

The Vikings doubled down on that system this off-season, releasing running back Dalvin Cook and using their first-round pick on a running back who at least drives fast. It's a bold strategy when your QB is Krik Cousins, but it worked well enough for him to have a top 10 PFF grade and star on a Netflix show. Of course, a top-10 Kirk Cousins didn't even spell a top-20 weighted offensive DVOA, so maybe we should expect some level of regression for the team in the win/loss column. 


Defense

The Vikings are going from probably the most passive zone coverage defense in the league last season to one of the most aggressive man coverage defensive coordinators in the league. Brian Flores majored in Cover-0 in Miami and comes from the Bill Belichick Cover-1 tree. Minnesota doesn't really have the manpower in the secondary to play cover-0 or really even cover-1 more than 15-20 snaps a game, so it's possible Flores will evolve, but right now it looks like the team will be blitz heavy this season. 


Chicago Bears


Offense

Luke Getsy's formative years were spent on Mike McCarthy, Joe Moorhead, and Matt LaFleur. Moorhead is a spread guru who is hailed as one of the main RPO innovators in college football. With the Bears, Getsy has leaned more into Moorhead offense than anything Mike McCarthy or Matt LaFleur did in Green Bay. Of course, that is probably more of a result of his personnel (Justin Fields and no one else) than his personal preferences. 

I would expect the team to continue to major in spread QB run concepts and RPOs this year, but also start to add more and more of the Shanahan scheme that Getsy learned from LaFleur. 


Defense

Matt Eberflus learned the Tampa-2 defense from (Joe Barry's father-in-law) Rod Marinelli in Dallas. While Eberflus runs a lot more Cover-3 than Marinelli did, the basic strategy is the same - rush four, stunt on the defensive line, and play deep zone coverage. Sound familiar? The Tampa-2 defense is very similar to the Fangio scheme that has spread across the league over the past few years. It's not as popular as Fangio's because Peyton Manning murdered it in the oughts. 

Eberflus ran a good defense in Indy, but, like the offense, the Bears just don't have the personnel to run it well. Eberflus will likely need to adapt the scheme this year to attempt to bring more pressure from the second level. 


Detroit Lions


Offense

Like Kevin O'Connell, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has stolen the McVay/Stafford passing scheme. Unlike Kevin O'Connell, Johnson has merged it with one of the most diverse run games in the league. The Lions took the league by storm last year thanks to their aggressive pass offense and creative run game. Johnson rode the success to several head coach interviews before deciding to come back to Detroit for one more year. 

The Lions' offense is somewhat of a mystery going into the year. Jared Goff centric offenses tend to regress after the league has a year of tape to study and the Lions replaced their running back stable with slow Jordan Howard and more-of-a-wide receiver Jamhyr Gibbs. If Johnson really does have the goods to be next Guru head coach, the Lions won't miss a beat in year 2 of him running the offense and will continue to evolve to use Gibbs and Howard (and exciting rookie tight end Sam LaPorta) in more and more creative ways. We'll see.


Defense

Like Brian Flores with the Vikings and Matt Eberflus with the Bears, Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn was forced to run his head into the wall trying to run his scheme (an aggressive press-man scheme combined with a lot of quarters and creative blitzing) with inferior talent. Around halfway through last season, Glenn did what Vikings and Bears fans hope to see this year, and adapted. By the end of the season, the team had improved enough to go from last in defensive DVOA to 23rd in weighted defensive DVOA.

Glenn's changes after the Lions' bye certainly contributed to the team going from 1-6 to 9-8. The defense used far less press man and basically stopped blitzing in the second half of the season. It will be interesting to see which system Glenn goes with in 2023. The team spent the offseason building up its secondary, spent a first-round pick on an off-ball linebacker, and has a few guys on the defensive line ready to take the next step. Will he go back to the Gregg Williams scheme and bring pressure from everywhere with his corners on islands? Or will he stick to the more modern scheme, putting an umbrella over the deep part of the field with zone coverage and stick to four-man rushes? 

Continue Reading @ CheeseheadTV 

CheeseheadTV wrote:



Interesting read, basically all NFC North Teams run different versions of wide zone scheme on offense. With the Vikings basically forgetting about the run the most, and Bears leading on spread and read option with their run QB and lack of weapons in past years.

On defense, Vikings going from the most conservative scheme to one of the most aggressive, but do they have to DBs to hold up in it?

Lions want to play extremely aggressive but haven't had the DBs to get it done. And Lions switching to a more conservative approach with only rushing four helped turn around their season last year. Which will they run this year?

Bears and Packers have pretty much run conservative schemes with rushing four and play zone coverage.


Though, I think we might be seeing some signs that Joe Berry is trying to pull the Vic Fangio 49ers and Bears defenses out with some up front changes to let them be more aggressive and more attacking.
 
UserPostedImage
Fan Shout
beast (8m) : Dolphins offense can be explosive... I wonder if we'll have Alexander back
Zero2Cool (1h) : No Doubs could be issue Thursday
Mucky Tundra (6h) : Bears. Santos. Blocked FG
Zero2Cool (17h) : Bears. Vikings. OT
Mucky Tundra (17h) : Thems the breaks I guess
Mucky Tundra (17h) : Two players out and Williams had an injury designation this week but Oladapo is a healthy scratch
Zero2Cool (18h) : Packers inactives vs 49ers: • CB Jaire Alexander • S Kitan Oladapo • LB Edgerrin Cooper • OL Jacob Monk
TheKanataThrilla (20h) : Aaron Jones with a costly red zone fumble
Zero2Cool (21h) : When we trade Malik for a 1st rounder, we'll need a new QB2.
packerfanoutwest (23-Nov) : Report: Aaron Rodgers wants to play in 2025, but not for the Jets
beast (23-Nov) : That's what I told the Police officer about my speed when he pulled me over
packerfanoutwest (23-Nov) : NFL told Bears that Packers’ blocked field goal was legal
packerfanoutwest (22-Nov) : 49ers are underdogs at Packers, ending streak of 36 straight games as favorites
Zero2Cool (22-Nov) : 49ers might be down their QB, DL, TE and LT?
packerfanoutwest (22-Nov) : Jaire Alexander says he has a torn PCL
Zero2Cool (20-Nov) : Even with the context it's ... what?
Mucky Tundra (20-Nov) : Matt LaFleur without context: “I don’t wanna pat you on the butt and you poop in my hand.”
beast (20-Nov) : We brought in a former Packers OL coach to help evaluate OL as a scout
beast (20-Nov) : Jets have been pretty good at picking DL
Zero2Cool (20-Nov) : He landed good players thanks to high draft slot. He isn't good.
Zero2Cool (20-Nov) : He can shove his knowledge up his ass. He knows nothing.
beast (20-Nov) : More knowledge, just like bring in the Jets head coach
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : What? Why? Huh?
beast (19-Nov) : I wonder if the Packers might to try to bring Douglas in through Milt Hendrickson/Ravens connections
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : The Jets fired Joe Douglas, per sources
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : Jets are a mess......
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Pretty sure Jets fired their scouting staff and just pluck former Packers.
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Jets sign Anders Carlson to their 53.
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : When you cycle the weeks, the total over remains for season. But you get your W/L for that selected week. Confusing.
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : the total and percentage are the same as the previous weeks
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : the total and percentage are the same as the previous weeks
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : the totals are accurate..nrvrtmind
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : I don't follow what you are saying. The totals are not the same as last week.
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : ok so then wht are the totals the same as last week?
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : NFL Pick'em is auto updated when NFL Scores tab is clicked
Martha Careful (19-Nov) : The offense was OK. Let's not forget the Bear defense is very very good.
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : Who updates the leaderboard on NFLPickem?
beast (19-Nov) : Has the Packers offense been worse since the former Jets coach joined the Packers?
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Offense gets his ass in gear, this could be good.
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Backup QB helped with three wins. Special Teams contributed to three wins.
bboystyle (18-Nov) : Lions played outside thats why. They scored 16 and 17 in the only 2 outside games this year
Zero2Cool (18-Nov) : The rest of the NFL is catching up to Packers ... kicking is an issue throughout league
packerfanoutwest (18-Nov) : Packers DL Kenny Clark: We knew 'we were going to block' Bears' game-winning field goal attempt
Zero2Cool (18-Nov) : Lions seem to be throttling everyone, but only (only) got 24 lol maybe the rain is why
Zero2Cool (18-Nov) : Packers vs Lions game doesn't seem so bad.
beast (18-Nov) : Dennis Green "They are what we thought they were, and we let them off the hook!"
Martha Careful (17-Nov) : comment of the day Z2Cool "Bears better than we want to admit. Packers worse than we think. It's facts."
Mucky Tundra (17-Nov) : my worst case scenario: Bears fix their oline and get a coach like Johnson from the Lions and his scheme
Zero2Cool (17-Nov) : Bears get OL fixed amd we might have a problem
buckeyepackfan (17-Nov) : Pretty sure they already have scouting reports on guys who aren't even starting for their college team. The future is now for me.
Please sign in to use Fan Shout
2024 Packers Schedule
Friday, Sep 6 @ 7:15 PM
Eagles
Sunday, Sep 15 @ 12:00 PM
COLTS
Sunday, Sep 22 @ 12:00 PM
Titans
Sunday, Sep 29 @ 12:00 PM
VIKINGS
Sunday, Oct 6 @ 3:25 PM
Rams
Sunday, Oct 13 @ 12:00 PM
CARDINALS
Sunday, Oct 20 @ 12:00 PM
TEXANS
Sunday, Oct 27 @ 12:00 PM
Jaguars
Sunday, Nov 3 @ 3:25 PM
LIONS
Sunday, Nov 17 @ 12:00 PM
Bears
Sunday, Nov 24 @ 3:25 PM
49ERS
Thursday, Nov 28 @ 7:20 PM
DOLPHINS
Thursday, Dec 5 @ 7:15 PM
Lions
Sunday, Dec 15 @ 7:20 PM
Seahawks
Monday, Dec 23 @ 7:15 PM
SAINTS
Sunday, Dec 29 @ 12:00 PM
Vikings
Saturday, Jan 4 @ 11:00 PM
BEARS
Recent Topics
13h / Green Bay Packers Talk / buckeyepackfan

19h / Green Bay Packers Talk / buckeyepackfan

21h / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

23-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / dfosterf

23-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

22-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

21-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

21-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

21-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

20-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

20-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

20-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

19-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / dfosterf

19-Nov / Featured Content / Zero2Cool

19-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

Headlines
Copyright © 2006 - 2024 PackersHome.com™. All Rights Reserved.