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Focus on professional football This week delivered a perspective jolt to the enigma of the Minnesota Vikings’ longtime offensive line. The eye test highlighted the shortcomings of the Vikings’ offensive line for years, but PFF all but confirmed the riffraff.
The Vikings team has been scoring and ranking the block since 2014:
2014: 72.4 (23rd)
2015: 67.9 (28th)
2016: 64.7 (30th)
2017: 71.9 (17th)
2018: 63.6 (27th)
2019: 63.0 (27th)
2020: 55.5 (29th)😬 #Skol pic.twitter.com/gKykFADIAJ
– PFF MIN Vikings (@PFF_Vikings) January 14, 2021
If we sift through all of Minnesota’s statistical metrics since Mike Zimmer was hired in 2014, no statistical parameter is consistently underwater, as is pass blocking (with the possible exception of kick shots. additional feet). Defense usually arouses fear. The offense came to a halt for Zimmer in 2014 and 2015, but has seen an explosive rise since the arrival of Dalvin Cook and Kirk Cousins.
This offensive line dilemma, however, just doesn’t go away. It is an annual event to speculate on the prospects of “this year’s” trenches. Did Rick Spielman fix the problem this time? Will Mike Remmers be the solution? Each season a new half-measured tactic is executed to fix the offensive line – to no avail. This is confirmed by the tweet from PFF. Think of the tweet as a smoking gun.
PFF’s ratings are particularly relevant here – for better or worse – as offensive line stats aren’t readily available. Sacks-allowed doesn’t tell the whole story or rushing yards. Taken together – these stats can take the pulse of an offensive line, but a full verdict isn’t the result.
Here’s why PFF’s tweet is so damning.
7 years of suffering
On average under Zimmer, the Vikings offensive line has been ranked 26th by PFF in blocking passes since 2014. This is not good. It’s not even “top to bottom”. The Zimmer Vikings’ insight into blocking passes has always been bad. Luckily for Zimmer, his defense is generally just as good – because the offensive line is bad. Call it gridiron deodorant.
In 2020, neither of the two departments was operational. In points awarded and blocking offensive line passes, the Vikings were ranked fourth in the industry for both measures. Divisions can’t be won, postseason games can’t be played, and Super Bowls wins don’t come about when both sides of the trenches are smelly. Stinky trenches beset the Vikings in 2020.
If the offense as a whole was that problematic or the entire defense fell to the bottom of the NFL in the standings – like the blocking of passes in the PFF tweet – the head coach would be dumped by year three . Fortunately, it is “only” a segment of the offense which is lamentable. The playmakers hide the fragility of the offensive line. Consider how successful the franchise could be if the Vikings were able to muster a 17th best offensive line every season? It is not too much to ask.
An average season = NFC championship
Need proof? In 2017, Minnesota’s pass blocking ranked 17th league-wide by PFF. It’s a cut below average. Guess what? The Vikings had a storytelling season and visited the NFC Championship. This suggests that with even a bit of pass blocking, Zimmer’s team could knock on the Super Bowl door more frequently. That’s what they did in 2017. Why not throw in the league’s 18th best pass-blocking unit for 2021 and see what happens?
All that may be needed is a slightly below average offensive line play if 2017 is any indicator.
2020 as the worst to date
The terrible implication of the PFF nugget is that the worst grade is the most recent. The 55.5 PFF rating is the worst under a Zimmer Purple diet. Indeed, the 2016 Vikings generated a lower NFL ranking, but the raw score was about nine points higher than the 2020 Vikings.
It could be seen as “the lowest”. Will it be worse than a score of 55.5? It is perhaps the moment of galvanization that elucidates years of failure linked to the offensive line. Brian O’Neill, Garrett Bradbury, Ezra Cleveland are all relatively young. The world is close at hand in terms of maturation. If left tackle Riley Reiff stays on the roster, Minnesota shouldn’t need much more than a left guard for 2021. Last season offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak traded Dakota Dozier and Dru Samia to left guard. – a duo that can be rightly called. completely putrid.
The pass-blocking nightmare ends in two ways – the Vikings find a proper guard as the other four pieces develop. Or the team ends up south of 20th overall in the NFL – again – and trying to figure out why 2021 has gone wrong at that crossroads next year. You know, the annual January through March routine for Viking analysts.
The bittersweet part is that PFF finally exposed it in a simple tweet. The problem has been identified – a problem already widely recognized by Viking loyalists. Now the Vikings must act to move closer to the position of 2017 rather than that of 2020.
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