Adaptable. Aggressive. Autonomous.

Minnesota's defense didn't have all the answers in 2024, but enough for an A+ on its report card.

Second-year Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores worked wonders matching an influx of free agents with a versatile core. His blitz-laced scheme sparked 49 sacks, 33 takeaways and 24 interceptions.

Furthermore, Minnesota's defense tightened security on weighty downs, letting opponents convert on fourth down at the lowest clip in the league (37.1%) and at the fourth-lowest rate on third down (35.6%).

Totals reflected improvements from Flores' first season dialing defensive play calls for the Vikings, when his group forced 11 fewer turnovers, missed 21 more tackles, surrendered a smidge more than 21 points per contest, buckled on an NFL-worst 72.0% of fourth-down tries and amassed a passer rating against of 95.2, compared to this past season's mark of 82.4, which was second in the league behind Detroit (82.0).

All told, the 2024 unit was fifth in points against per game, at 19.5, and second with 93.4 average rushing yards allowed. The successes produced a stingy reputation – not to mention coach and player reactions captured on sidelines epitomizing the headaches caused by Flo's tactics – an array of statistical career highs, and first-time Pro Bowl honors for Jonathan Greenard, Byron Murphy, Jr. and Andrew Van Ginkel.

In most respects, the defense outperformed external expectations attached to Minnesota's projected win total of six or seven games. The Vikings doubled that up in the end, with different streaks of five and nine wins, thanks to a wheeling-and-dealing defensive nature that caused gigantic momentum swings.

If only the impact plays never waned and the good times on defense kept rolling.

Now that the Pro Bowl Games are over and Super Bowl LIX is imminent, there's dwindling time to treasure 2024 royalties and to dwell on 2024 flaws before turning attention to 2025. So, we wanted to circle back to a collection of key defensive stats that were instrumental to Minnesota's rise and fall.

Editor's Note: The following statistics used in this article were obtained from NFL Next Gen Stats.

2 Favorable Defensive Stats:

1. Crushing rushing expectations

In the trenches, flying under the radar is an ideal outcome.

A lack of attention usually means scarce slip-ups or consistently good but unglamorous execution. It's a truth that pertains to both aisles of the line, and really hits home regarding the 2024 Vikings front seven.

Minnesota defenders were solid at setting edges and stopping the run. As a whole, the defense gave up the third-fewest rushes of 10-plus yards (39), the fourth-fewest rushing yards before contact (1.06 per carry) – a testament to governing offenses at the point of attack – and fifth-fewest yards over expected (minus-39). They were terrific in just about every facet – and indifferent to publicity and positive reviews.

The group selflessly handled assignments, dictating terms inside and outside the tackle box that had resounding impacts on each game but rarely generated the kinds of headlines you'd associate with an historically efficient résumé. Overall, the Vikings lacked highlightable run denials – they were 16^th with a 16.6 "stuff" percentage (runs for no gain or a loss) – but played a winning brand of run defense, as evidenced by their NFL-leading tally of minus-0.17 expected points added per rush by opposing offenses.

That EPA/Rush barely trailed New England's minus-0.18 in '23 and finished as the No. 2 mark in the past five years. Four defenses in 2019 – the Jets, Steelers, Eagles and Buccaneers – were minus-0.19 or better.

Big picture-wise, it represented a seven-point difference in EPA/Rush from Flores' debut season as Vikings defensive coordinator (minus-0.10) and a 14-point change to the 2022 figure that predated him.

Unsurprisingly, Minnesota's run defense in 2024 was strongest, compiling its stingiest EPA/Rush (minus-0.26), when it loaded the box with eight-plus defenders. But in lighter personnel groupings, with six or fewer in that space, the Vikings were tough to outflank, too, producing an EPA/Rush of minus-0.12.

Going game-by-game, Minnesota's defense enjoyed its lowest EPA/Rush in Week 5 versus the Jets in London and in Week 11 at the Titans, accumulating the NFL's fifth- and 11th-best efforts of minus-0.62 and minus-0.56; top opponent rushers respectively gained 23 and 18 yards via wistful 2.6-yard averages.

Before closing, we should note a couple underlying factors contributing to dominance in that area: 1) Minnesota logged a league-leading 701 defensive plays with an advantage on the scoreboard, resulting in teams throwing instead of running in such circumstances on 69.2% of plays; 2) Flo's blitz-heavy strategy brings defenders toward the action and kicks in "attack" instincts before the ball is snapped.

That's a top reason why the Vikings managed to ledger 254 pressures and shut down most running ops.

2. Improved average time to pressure

The Greenard and Van Ginkel Show treated spectators to 23.5 combined sacks and 119 pressures.

It also featured recurring guest appearances from players such as Pat Jones II, Blake Cashman, Ivan Pace, Jr., Dallas Turner, Harrison Phillips, Harrison Smith, Joshua Metellus, Jihad Ward, and so on and so forth.

Basically, billing the fourth-most sacks in the NFL and third-most pressures demanded teamwork.

And the Vikings worked together smoothly.

In 2024, Minnesota's pass rush thrived on its NFL-best blitz rate of 40.6% and viewed every millisecond rushing the passer as precious. In the end, the unit was second fastest in terms of reaching the QB, averaging 2.53 seconds to pressure; the Raiders (2.52) were speedier, but their stats weren't as gaudy.

OK, so, how did the Vikings swiftness into the backfield on dropbacks compare to the previous year?

It was much, much quicker.

In 2023, Minnesota blitzed on a staggering, trendsetting 48.8% of passing downs and inflicted quarterback pressure in 2.69 seconds on average, which ranked smackdab in the middle of NFL defenses.

OK, so, how did dialing down blitzes – granted, the defense's identity under Flores is irrefutably predicated on blitzing – whip up more sacks and pressures, not to mention at a notably quicker clip?

Obviously, one ingredient was superior execution, whether it's refined pre-snap disguises or cleaner post-snap operation, but another, and probably the more salient part of the equation was personnel.

Minnesota simply had greater talent in Flores' second season.

The first year of Flo's creativeness featured Danielle Hunter and D.J. Wonnum as primary pass rushers and a plethora of players in ancillary roles. Of four with 20-plus pressures, only safety Joshua Metellus averaged under 3.00 seconds to his goal. Hunter (3.27), Wonnum (3.07) and Jones (3.26) in 2023 paled in comparison to the burst and block-beating skills of five of six guys that posted 20-plus pressures in 2024.

Hello, Cashman (2.47), Metellus (2.51), Jones (2.73), Van Ginkel (2.80) and Greenard (2.84). Ward also had 20-plus pressures in '24 but took longer than his time-traveling teammates, averaging 3.21 seconds.

In summary, the 2024 Vikings defense benefitted ridiculously from an overhaul of explosiveness.

2 Improvable Defensive Stats:

1. Too much separation

As with any weakness, there tends to be a workaround, a method to offset or soften its severity.

An over-the-top safety, for instance, can bail out a cornerback that looks lost in man coverage but really is just a step or two slower than a receiver and, per instruction, playing "trail" technique, relying on help.

Similarly, a gap-shooting linebacker on a blitz can decrease the likelihood of completions on routes that require more time to develop. Such solutions are pinned on coaches to recognize and players to perform.

One problem that persisted during Minnesota's 14-3 regular season was target separation: The average distance between a pass catcher and the nearest Vikings defender upon a throw's arrival was 3.8 yards.

That was fourth worst in the NFL, pegged behind Buffalo and ahead of Arizona, Miami and Las Vegas. So you know, Detroit, Baltimore and Washington ranked around 3.2 yards at the other side of the spectrum.

Ironically, it's a sizable improvement from 2023, when Minnesota was 32nd at 4.3 (the worst mark tracked in the NGS database since 2018) and the only unit to average worse than 4.0 yards of separation.

What gives?

Two things must be mentioned in this conversation: Firstly, the Vikings have played heavy doses of zone coverage with Flores at the helm, which poses as a tweak in philosophy from the previous regime. That in itself correlates with green grass standing between receivers and defenders, although it doesn't forgive if there's too much green grass and doesn't pin zone-drop rules as the main antagonist of leaky coverage. Secondly, the average age of Minnesota's top three CBs and safeties in '24 was 29 years old.

From a purely physiological angle, a secondary zeroing in on 30 is likely more prone to fatigue and may not match up as well against younger players. Conversely, a veteran's intellect might lend an upper hand.

Everything considered, the distance proved to be too great to cover.

The separation was furthest in Week 7 against Detroit, when the Lions dealt the Vikings their first loss of the year and averaged 4.6 yards from the closest Purple jersey on targets. It can't be chalked up as a coincidence then, that Jared Goff connected on 22 of 25 passes for 280 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Again, the Vikings were way too lenient in coverage the next week at Los Angeles, giving up 4.2 yards of average separation as Matthew Stafford went 25-of-34 for 279 yards, four touchdowns and a single pick.

While a tremendous pass rush repeatedly saved its skin, forcing many turnover-worthy throws, there's no overstating the significance of that half-plus yard separating Minnesota and the stickiest secondaries.

2. Late-game lapses

This feels like anti-cherry picking, because the Vikings were so strong defensively in 2024 that it's challenging to identify thematic struggles – what actually hurt Minnesota's defense? Aside from it not doing what it did all season in the Wild Card (failing to record a takeaway for the first time in 18 games).

We suppose nitpicking is appropriate, if not necessary right now.

And so on that front, let's discuss some of the scares the Vikings endured.

Go ahead, blame the leads, or an abundance of desperate foes or perhaps even the occasional overzealousness of Minnesota defenders after stacking sacks and takeaways, and takeaways and sacks.

It's possible that many factors played a part in the Vikings loosening their grip as time disappeared.

Nevertheless, here's several alarming stats linked to the final frame of games: 45% of red-zone plays run by opponents on Minnesota's watch occurred in the fourth quarter; roughly 42% of touchdown passes against the Vikings happened within that 15-minute period, as did the fifth-most completions that traveled 20-plus yards in the air (24), and an NFL-high 138 "long" pass attempts, surpassing 2.5 seconds.

The obvious explanation but not one that excuses any of the lapses is opponents were playing with nothing to lose, fully untethered from doubt. Sometimes, comeback tries against Minnesota involved changes in offensive tempo, rushing to the line to neutralize defensive signals and muddle assignments. In other situations, the door to victory was left ajar due to self-inflicted errors and slammed shut only after the club restored confidence with a single crowd-silencing play or sequence of mistake-free snaps.

Wins over the Packers, Jets, Bears and Seahawks induced anxiety but came to fruition, finally, once Minnesota recovered from fourth-quarter stumbles and rediscovered its balanced brand of football.

Honestly, it's silly to insinuate that the Vikings defense scuffled in the witching hour.

In addition to long passes and close calls, a surplus of trips to the red zone and growing pauses as leads withered, there were many heroic efforts that cemented the 2024 defense as one of the franchise's best.

To cancel late-game lapses, Minnesota's "D" submitted 19, approximately 40%, of its sacks in the fourth quarter. It ratcheted blitzes up to 42%, hastened its average team pass-rush get-off from 0.83 to 0.81 seconds, and accumulated a robust minus-0.53 EPA per play on 17 fourth downs in games' final frames.

Even with wiggle room to improve, the defense played lights out on virtually every stage.