Focus on professional football delivered a jolt of perspective to the puzzle of the Minnesota Vikings’ longstanding offensive line this week. The eyesight test shed light on deficiencies in the Vikings’ offensive line for years, but PFF practically confirmed the riot.
The Vikings team has passed the blocking and classification note since 2014:
2014: 72.4 (23)
2015: 67.9 (28)
2016: 64.7 (30º)
2017: 71.9 (17)
2018: 63.6 (27th)
2019: 63.0 (27th)
2020: 55.5 (29º)😬 #Skol pic.twitter.com/gKykFADIAJ
– PFF MIN Vikings (@PFF_Vikings) January 14, 2021
If one has sifted through all of Minnesota’s statistical metrics since hiring Mike Zimmer in 2014, no statistic parameters are consistently submerged like the pass block (with the possible exception of extra kicks). Defense often induces fear. The offensive was exhausted for Zimmer in 2014 and 2015, but has experienced an explosive increase since the arrival of Dalvin Cook and Kirk Cousins.
This offensive line dilemma, however – it just won’t go away. It is an annual specular occurrence about the prospects of the “this year’s” trenches. Did Rick Spielman fix it this time? Will Mike Remmers be the solution? Each season, a new half-measure tactic is executed to correct the offensive line – to no avail. This is confirmed by the PFF tweet. Consider the tweet a smoking weapon.
PFF grades are particularly perceptive here – for better or worse – because offensive line statistics are not easily obtained. Sacks-allowed doesn’t tell the whole story, nor does racing yards for. Together – these statistics can measure the pulse of an offensive line, but a full verdict is not the result.
Here’s why the PFF tweet is so blunt.
7 years of suffering
On average, under Zimmer, the Vikings’ offensive line ranks 26th by PFF in blocking passes since 2014. This is not a good thing. It is neither “up and down”. The Zimmer Vikings’ pass blocking acumen has been consistently bad. Fortunately for Zimmer’s sake, his defense is usually just as good – as the offensive line is bad. Call it grid deodorant.
In 2020, none of the departments were functioning. For points allowed and blocking of offensive line crossing, the Vikings were classified as the fourth worst in the sector in both metrics. Divisions cannot be won, postseason games cannot be played and Super Bowls victories do not happen when both sides of the trenches are stinking. Smelly trenches surrounded the Vikings in 2020.
If the attack as a whole were so problematic or if the entire defense fell to the bottom of the NFL in qualifying – like blocking passes in the PFF tweet – the head coach would be dropped in the third year. Fortunately, it is “just” one segment of the offense that is unfortunate. Game creators hide the fragility of the offensive line. Consider how prosperous the franchise could be if the Vikings managed to gather the 17th best offensive line each season? It is not asking too much.
An average season = NFC championship
Need evidence? In 2017, the Minnesota roadblock was ranked 17th in the PFF ranking. This is a level below average. Guess what? The Vikings had a fairytale season and visited the NFC Championship. This suggests that, even with a little blockage, Zimmer’s team could knock on the Super Bowl door more often. That’s what they did in 2017. Why not activate the league’s 18th best pass blocking unit for 2021 and see what happens?
All that may be needed is a game on the offensive line slightly below average if 2017 is any indicator.
2020 as the worst yet
The terrible implication of the PFF nugget is that the worst score is the most recent. The PFF grade of 55.5 is the worst under a purple Zimmer regime. In fact, the 2016 Vikings generated a lower ranking in the NFL, but the gross score was about nine points higher than the 2020 Vikings.
This can be perceived as “rock bottom”. Will it get worse than a score of 55.5? Perhaps this is the galvanizing moment that elucidates years of failures related to the offensive line. Brian O’Neill, Garrett Bradbury, Ezra Cleveland are all relatively young. The world is at your fingertips in terms of maturity. If left tackle Riley Reiff remains on the list, Minnesota won’t need much more than a left guard for 2021. Last season, offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak swapped Dakota Dozier and Dru Samia in the left guard position – a pair that can be appropriately coined as totally putrid.
The night-blocking nightmare ends in one of the following ways: Vikings encounter a guard who is worth his salt while the other four pieces develop. Or the team finishes 20th in the NFL – again – and tries to find out why 2021 went wrong at this junction next year. You know, the January-March annual routine for Viking analysts.
The bittersweet part is that PFF finally exposed it in a simple tweet. The problem has been identified – a problem that was already widely recognized by Vikings supporters. Now, Vikings must act to move closer to the 2017 position instead of 2020.
