NFL Stat of the Week: The Vikings are thriving under the blitz king Brian Flores

Welcome to the Stat of the Week, where we use advanced metrics to uncover the trends, performances and strategic shifts shaping the NFL season.

Since he became the Minnesota Vikings‘ defensive coordinator in 2023, Brian Flores has been more about the blitz than any other NFL coach. Flores cut his teeth under Bill Belichick in New England from 2008 to 2018, then served as Miami’s head coach (2019-21) and a Steelers assistant (2022), has absolutely no fear when it comes to sending extra defenders after the quarterback on a no-matter-what basis.

For the most part, Flores’ all-go, no-brakes philosophy has worked very well. The Vikings went from 11th in Defensive DVOA in Flores’ first season to second in 2024 to third in 2025, and they currently rank fourth in 2026, behind the Steelers, the Seattle Seahawks, and (believe it or not) the New York Jets. And this season so far, Flores has doubled down on his blitz concepts.

NFL Stat of the Week: Vikings are blitzing 75% of time to start the year (and it’s working)

Per Sumer Sports, the Vikings under Flores have never not ranked first in the NFL in blitz rate… it’s just that in Minnesota’s wins over the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears to open new season, Flores has taken things to an entirely new level.

• 2023: 49.4% of dropbacks blitzed (334 of 676) — ranked #1
• 2024: 39.7% (283 of 712) — ranked #1
• 2025: 47.7% (251 of 526) — ranked #1
• 2026 so far: 75.0% (66 of 88) — ranked #1

Obviously, blitzing on three-fourths of your opponents’ dropbacks can leave your defenders in the lurch if the quarterback has the time to get through the pressure and find the open receivers in the inevitable holes in coverage, but Flores also has answers for that. He also calls zone coverage at a rate you might not expect for such an aggressive coach, and this gives his defenders more leeway without opposing receivers running into massive openings in coverage.

Again, per Sumer Sports:

• 2023: 74.1% of dropbacks in zone (501 of 676) — ranked 13th in the NFL
• 2024: 72.6% (517 of 712) — ranked 10th
• 2025: 75.5% (397 of 526) — ranked 10th
• 2026 so far: 78.4% (69 of 88) — ranked 14th

At a time when a lot of defensive coaches are working more with light boxes and two-high shell coverages, Flores marches to his own tune. Per Next Gen Stats, the 2026 Vikings rank eighth in stacked box rate (eight or more defenders in the box) at 23.1%, and they have the NFL’s third-lowest light box rate (six or fewer defenders in the box) at 19.2%, ahead of only the Atlanta Falcons and the Miami Dolphins.

Flores has yet another interesting wrinkle with all the blitz stuff — as much as he loves to send six or more defenders at the snap, he’s also quite happy to show those blitzes and then drop several defenders into coverage post-snap with simulated pressures. In fact, sim pressures are just as important to, and just as frequent for, Flores and what he wants to do.

The numbers tell the story quite loudly.

• 2023: 58.0% of dropbacks faced a simulated pressure/blitz (392 of 676) — 1st in the NFL
• 2024: 56.9% (405 of 712) — ranked 1st
• 2025: 63.1% (332 of 526) — ranked 1st
• 2026 so far: 81.8% (72 of 88) — ranked 1st

If you think that Flores is going to revert from his current rate of defensive anarchy, think again. The man is committed to the bit.

“I mean, I think it’s case by case,” Flores said this week of his tendencies. “I mean, offensively, you hear about a script. Defensively, we have a script too, and we’re trying to see what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to see what we’re trying to do. And part of that is the gamesmanship. 

“We want to be aggressive. I feel like I’ve always said that. And I think our players want to be aggressive. I think our coaching staff wants to be aggressive. And I certainly want to be aggressive. I’ve said that many times. And that’s our play style. We’ll throw a change-up every now and again. But our fastball is, we’re gonna try to be aggressive. And be physical, play with good fundamentals.

“I know there’s a lot out there about blitz percentages. But I think that’s our play style. And I tell our guys all the time, if we’re gonna go down, we’re gonna go down a certain way. 

 “And so, we’re gonna go down blitzing people. That’s just my feeling on it.”

Brian Flores and the Vikings aren’t going down blitzing — they’re winning with it

But here’s the thing — it’s not just that the Vikings aren’t going down blitzing. Quite the opposite. They’re also forcing opposing offensive coaches away from preferred tendencies with their own tendencies. Last week, we discussed how and why offensive coaches are putting their quarterbacks under center to add juice to their passing games. On pass plays so far this season, the Vikings have faced quarterbacks under center on just 23 of 88 dropbacks, 26.1%.

One reason for this is that an acknowledged tactic to limit the effectiveness of under-center dropbacks is to send one or more linebackers on “mug blitzes” on either side of the center. Flores has been quite maniacal about this for years, opponents know it, and they act accordingly.

Also, the Vikings are able to create a ton of unblocked pressures — where there’s so much to deal with for enemy blockers, that someone comes through with no resistance whatsoever. Only the Detroit Lions (14) have more unblocked pressures than Minnesota’s 13, and edge-rusher Dallas Turner — who leads the league with 20 pressures overall — has had six of them come with no blocking. To confirm the three-level nature of Flores’ philosophy, linebacker Blake Cashman and safety Harrison Smith each have three unblocked pressures in the young season.

If you are going to bet on your schematic philosophies to an extreme degree, you’d better have all the little wrinkles covered, or disasters will happen. Brian Flores is able to be one of one on a limb of his own because he’s done just that. It’s why he’s football’s King of the Blitz, and why it works for him when it would collapse for so many others.