Luke Braun's Film Room: How Brian Flores Made His Novel Defense Complete

This week, Luke Braun's film room breaks down how the Minnesota Vikings and Brian Flores brought in a defense completely unique in the NFL, inspired by a legendary college coach.

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Since Week 4 of the 2023 season, the Minnesota Vikings have had the 2nd best defense in the NFL.

That might shock casual observers, but the statement is easier to defend than you’d think. The Vikings are 2nd in EPA, and top 5 in yards allowed per play and points allowed. At the very least, if you wanted to defend the more conservative take that the defense is Top 5, you’d be on stable ground. 

But why Week 4? According to Kevin Seifert of ESPN, that week marked a critical change in the defense --when Brian Flores gave his defense a key tuneup. Flores came into this year with a first draft of a brand new scheme, so it’s only natural that there were a few necessary edits after the first three weeks.

When Seifert says “brand new,” he doesn’t mean “brand new to the Minnesota Vikings,” or even “new to those who haven’t followed football for several decades,” but completely new to the NFL landscape.

For that article, Seifert reached out to other sources to find anyone that could remember a team playing the way these Minnesota Vikings play, and nobody could. Flores is in entirely uncharted territory here. So how did this come about? 

Brian Flores’s History As A Defensive Playcaller

Brian Flores picked up the framework of this defense from his time in New England, and so his defense bears many similarities to Bill Belichick’s. As head coach of the Miami Dolphins, he diverged a bit, but it wasn’t until his next stop -- the Pittsburgh Steelers -- that this thing all came together.

As Seifert explained, this leap forward in defensive philosophy began because of Flores’s proximity to the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, who share a practice field with the Steelers. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi is one of the most innovative and well-respected defensive minds in the country, and Flores took inspiration from what he saw.

But before that could happen, Flores had to connect with a relatively obscure former NFL receiver that he had crossed paths with before.

Twelve years ago, both Flores and future Pitt assistant Tiquan Underwood were in New England working toward a Super Bowl appearance. Underwood was playing wide receiver at the time and had started that season with the Jaguars. 

Bill Belichick claimed him after the Jaguars released him on cutdown day. He was released and re-signed several times over that season, most famously the day before Super Bowl XLVI. He played a respectable nine seasons in the NFL and CFL before taking up coaching in 2018.

A year later, Brian Flores earned the head coaching job in Miami and he hired Underwood as an offensive quality control assistant. The two met again in 2022 at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, and occasionally watched tape together.

Strange as it is, this connection is crucial to the Vikings’ defensive evolution. Had Bill Belichick not decided to claim a receiver from the Jaguars on cutdown day in 2011, Flores may not have experienced this same revelation in his sabbatical in Pittsburgh.

As Always, It Starts With The Run Game