How good (or bad) is the Vikings Defense under BFlo?

[Montana Tom]

Trying to be objective here.  We are currently:

#2 against the run (79 YPG vs #1 Ravens 73 YPG)
#3 points per game (17.4 PPG vs. #1 Chargers at 13.1 and #2 Steelers at 16.2...or #32 Carolina at 31.0)
#26 against passing (231.9 YPG vs #1 Tennessee at 156.7 or Ravens at 294.9)
#11 total yardage (310.9 YPG vs #1 Philadelphia at 273.1...or #32 Jacksonville at 390.6)

Special teams are not so special, however.  We are:
#31 on kickoff returns avg yards (22.4, vs. Lions #1 at 34.9, or #2 Dallas at 32, which tells me the overemphasis on this stat is meaningless)
#31 on punt returns avg yards (6.4, vs. Cowboys #1 at 16.2...see above for the Dept of Redundancy Dept. reference)

Turnovers tell the story, however.
#1 on INTs (at 15, vs. #2 Lions at 13, #6 Packers at 10 and #11 Bears at 8)
#10 at Takeaway/Giveaway ratio (INT & FUM) at +4.  Buffalo is #1 at +13, Chargers/Steelers tied for #2 at +9 and da Bears and Lions at #4 with +8.

[MaroonBells]

I think a lot of those passing yards are garbage time from all the games in the first half of the season when we got big early leads.

[MAD GAINZ]

The Vikings defense is Championship caliber this year. By that I mean, we're a top 10 overall defense and top 3-5 in some categories using traditional metrics and even better in analytical metrics.

The defense is the big reason we're 7-2. They've created some short fields for the offense and we've had at least 3 wins where the defense basically ended the game with a turnover. Even our loss to Detroit, the defense scored to get us in position to win it in the 4th quarter and came up with another stop to get the game thing FG. Our offenses inability to run get one more first down set the table for Detroit to have enough time to drive for a long FG to win.

Next season could be interesting... Our pass rush will likely be even better with all these guys having another off-season to grow in Flores scheme, but our secondary will be in flux. Gilmore, Murphy, and Griffin are all FAs. Guessing we'll try to bring one (or two) back but we'll need to find some guys.

[purplefaithful]

Biggest questions marks this off-season:

1) KOC Extension
2). JJM Recovery
3). Will BFlo stay (or not)
- The impact of him staying or going cant be underestimated when it comes to personnel.

[1VikesFan]

Biggest questions marks this off-season:

1) KOC Extension
2). JJM Recovery
3). Will BFlo stay (or not)
- The impact of him staying or going cant be underestimated when it comes to personnel.

I think KAM's extension is huge too.