Vikings secondary will need to have a good year if they want to win
Mike Zimmer is a very solid defensive minded coach, and he has a plan to stop some of the better teams in the NFL. The Cincinnati Bengals defense has finished in the top 10 the last 3 years in a row. Zimmer will now be leading the Vikings defense, who has a pretty decent little squad, but with no major super star.
Zimmer has a similar team to what he did in 2011 with the Bengals when the team finished 7th in the league in total defense. While the Bengals had a better secondary, the Vikings have the potential to have a great secondary. The team picked up Captain Munnerlyn from the Panthers to tag team with Josh Robinson and Xavier Rhodes. The safeties are pretty solid as well with Harrison Smith and Jamarca Sanford. This team could be a very solid team if the offense can get things going, but will need the secondary to step up.
If you take Sanford, Smith, Munnerlyn, Rhodes and Robinson and add them all up you will see 16 total interceptions. That is not many, especially when you consider Richard Sherman had 8 alone last year. Last year they finished 31st in the NFL giving up 287 yards a game. The team was giving up way too many big plays in the secondary and only the Eagles had a worse secondary.
Zimmer will fix something things, but ultimately this group will need to work together to slow down some receivers. If they can learn to stop the big play and cut that number down, the Vikings could be a sleeper team. The rest of their defense does not look that bad on paper. They could surprise quite a bit of people, but will need this group to step up big.
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