‘Why’ Emphasized as Vikings Offensive Staff Teaches ‘What’

[Viktor]

Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer said the offense is meeting “together as a whole a lot more” than in the past.


“I think they start to see why this is being called, why this is being run,” Zimmer said. “The coaches are doing a good job of trying to explain, ‘This is why we’re doing this’ and ‘This is how this can help us,’ and go from there.


The defense has met together often during Zimmer’s tenure. He said offenses can be “pretty segregated” by position group, but that is changing this year.


“I always think it’s better if everybody meets together because tight ends need to know what the tackles are doing, and the backs might need to know how the tight end is blocking a particular play,” Zimmer said. “I think that’s always good if you can do that. Then, you’ve got to have time separated, too, to be able to go over the finer details of things, too.”


Kline said the structure of the group meetings makes sense.


“You have to play complementary football,” Kline said. “So yeah, that’s just the game in itself, and the offense as a whole, all 11 guys have to do their job to have success on the play. That’s how the game is.”


Safety Harrison Smith’s position is connected to other posts within the defense.


“I can’t speak for the offense because I’ve never been in an offensive meeting, but as a defense it helps to know where a linebacker is, or a corner, or whatever,” Smith said. “If you’re a safety, the guys around you, what’s happening up front? It just allows you to be a little surer of what you’re doing and knowing where your help is.”


The Vikings defense has logged multiple top-10 rankings for the past several seasons under Zimmer, who was hired in 2014, including in 2017 when Minnesota led the NFL in yards allowed and points against. Now, the offense is on a quest to give opposing defenses more problems.


Receiver Adam Thielen said he believes the offense is in “a good spot” after the first week of training camp because the group has been able to build on what was learned in the offseason program.


“Obviously, there’s a lot of changes and little things that I’m sure we’ll put in along these next couple weeks, but it’s been exciting,” Thielen said. “It’s been fun to learn the system, and hopefully we can keep continuing to grow and make it our own.”