The Vikings have had the 49ers’ number the past two years. One of the reasons Minnesota is 2-0 against San Francisco is the presence of defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
Flores mixes things up perfectly. The 49ers knew it was coming. It didn’t matter.
“That’s what they do,” coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Monday. “They either blitz or they back off and play zone. It’s one or the other. They’ve been mixing it up. They did it for 17 games last year. Now they’ve done it for two games this year.”
Quarterback Brock Purdy was impressed by the manner in which the approach confused him.
“Brian Flores did what he’s done on tape today,” Purdy told reporters after the game. “They’re just really, really good at it. . . . Tip of the cap to Brian Flores. . . . They just did a good job with making it look like one thing and it was another. Different types of blitzes or just dropping out [from blitzes].”
The goal is to keep the offensive players guessing.
“I think that’s what the point of the scheme is,” Shanahan said. “It’s to have six guys up on the line and come from everywhere. So you’ve got to — it’s just a lot of pressure on a quarterback throughout a game. That’s what their scheme is. They’re going to make you think whether you’re hot every play and if you’re not, then you’ve got to find the open zones. There are a lot of open zones, but it’s tough the way they slow you down with having the threat of zero [all-out blitz] throughout the game. He does a really good job of mixing it up and that is the challenge for a quarterback. It makes it really tough to get into a rhythm.”
It also makes it hard to have checkdown throws to running backs. As Shanahan said, the approach keeps the running backs in the backfield, in the event that they have to block.
The Texans will be the next team charged with figuring out what’s coming on Sunday. And of trying to process it before the walls cave in.
