How Much Are the Vikings Like History's Biggest Blitzers?

The Vikings repeated their absurd blitzing strategy against the Chicago Bears, authors of the highest-scoring game in the NFL this year. That team, which put 59 points on the Panthers in Week 1, was held to just three points against Minnesota.

This represents the largest drop in offensive points scored in consecutive weeks since 1973, when the Atlanta Falcons scored a franchise-record 62 points in their season opener against the New Orleans Saints before getting shut out by the Los Angeles Rams the next week.

The Bears posted their second-worst offensive performance by EPA per play in the Ben Johnson era and their single-worst performance by points scored. It is the only time the Ben Johnson Bears scored fewer than 16 points and the only time they hadn’t scored an offensive touchdown, the week after they scored eight.

The Vikings did it by blitzing the fuck out of the opposing quarterback. Again.

Bears quarterbacks were hit ten times and took four sacks. When they were able to get rid of the ball, their passes were defensed seven times, including one pick. They were under duress on 49.6 percent of snaps, according to Pro Football Focus and they produced a success rate just north of one-in-four.

There are important caveats to this, of course. One does not produce a historic defensive performance on pure skill alone. The weather played a big role, as did the injury Caleb Williams suffered late in the game, one that prevented a run into the end zone.

But even with all of those caveats, it was a dominant performance. In rainier conditions against a top-flight defense, the 2022 Chicago Bears and Justin Fields penguin-slid their way into 19 points, after all.

Still, the Vikings piloted a win with their backup quarterback using a renewed defense that looks like it could be a problem for anybody. And it felt like a Madden player took the controller and usered all eleven players on defense and sent them running at the QB, mashing the hit stick.

Depending on who does the charting, the Vikings blitzed the Bears anywhere between 75 and 80 percent of opponent dropbacks. Over their two games, that comes to a blitz rate of 83.0 percent, according to PFF.

Is this a lot? You tell me.

What is the precedent for this? Will the Vikings be history’s most blitz-happy team? And is that even good?

When asked “which Super Bowl-era NFL defense has set a record for the fewest points per game allowed in a single season?” most casual football fans will get it wrong. They might cite the 2000 Ravens defense, the 1985 Chicago Bears, the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense, a Steel Curtain or Purple People Eaters defense or some other historic, legacy-defining unit.

Certainly, the 1969 Minnesota Vikings and 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers appear high on the list — 2nd and 3rd, in fact. The 2000 Ravens are the only team since the end of the NFL dead-ball era, which ended in 1978, to appear in the top 15.

Other luminary defenses with legendary units and players show up — the 1975 Los Angeles Rams, 1971 Baltimore Colts and 1966 Packers are on the list as well.

But the 1977 Atlanta Falcons lead the way, having allowed just 9.2 points per game with an estimated defensive EPA per play of -0.21 and a defensive DVOA  of -17.7% — ranking first, fifth and 19^th in NFL history in those measures among 624 team-seasons since 1977 (the earliest year we have DVOA data for).

They’re known as the Grits Blitz.

There are nitpicks that take that Falcons team out of consideration as a candidate for the greatest defense of all time that have to do with their schedule, the league’s scoring environment, pace-of-play and so on, but they are nevertheless a dominant defense well worth evaluating.

Of these amazing historical defenses — the 2000 Ravens, the Legion of Boom, the 2002 Buccaneers, the Reggie White and Jerome Brown Eagles defenses, the Bill Walsh 49ers defenses, the Steel Curtain, the Purple People Eaters, etc. — not one has been defined more by the willingness to send extra pass rushers than the ’77 Falcons.

At least, when people remember them.

As defensive tackle Mike Lewis told Steve Hummer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2017, “Mention the Grits Blitz around Texas, it doesn't mean much. That was too long ago, plus I don't think they paid that much attention to Atlanta back then.”

That Falcons team is one of the great lost defenses throughout NFL history, alongside the 2000 Tennessee Titans, 1991 New Orleans Saints and Washington Commanders and late-80s Minnesota Vikings.

As one might expect, there aren’t advanced statistics from the era. I can’t reliably give you the 1977 Falcons' blitz rate throughout the season. But I can chart one game — their Week 6 game against the Chicago Bears — and give you an approximation.

Of course, “blitz” here — like always — requires some level of definition. Here, we mean the most basic definition: sending five or more pass rushers after the quarterback on a dropback.

That means plays where an edge rusher drops into coverage and a cornerback rushes to take his place don’t count, something we actually saw in this game despite how modern we sometimes think the tactic is.

They also deployed smaller rush-specific subpackages. Before their game against the Vikings, head coach Leeman Bennett told the Duluth News-Tribune that they subbed in Wilson Faumuina at nose tackle and Robert Pennywell at outside linebacker on third down to get more speed on the field, taking off slower defensive tackles.

And boy, did the ’77 Falcons love a sim pressure and a delayed rush.

At least five of the 14 blitzes had six or more players rushing the passer, and I counted one with eight rushers and another with nine.

And you better believe the nine-man rush was a pick.

But all in all, that game featured a blitz rate of 38.9 percent. High for any era, but not high enough to earn its own place in NFL history.

The Falcons finished .500 that year despite the historic defense, partly because of an injury to their intended starting quarterback, Steve Bartkowski, and partly because they simply didn’t have the personnel on offense, even with a healthy quarterback.

It didn’t help that they took very poor advice from statistician Bud Goode, who ran some extremely rudimentary data that concluded teams that run more often win games regardless of efficiency. While that is technically true, it reverses causality — teams that are ahead will salt out the clock by running the ball; running itself doesn't create winning.

But the Falcons were the run-heaviest team in the league despite producing the worst run efficiency in the NFL that year — again because of both injury and personnel. Bubba Bean was supposed to be their primary runner, but they relied on backup Haskel Stanback that year. And the offensive line wasn’t that good to begin with.

The Vikings, who soon return Kyler Murray, have much more to recommend themselves talent-wise on offense. Hopefully, that will be enough to push this unique defense forward.

I did omit some great defenses earlier when listing them. Along with the Grits Blitz Falcons, other defenses were defined by their aggressiveness.