Sigh. The Vikings’ magical 2022-23 NFL season is now officially over, having ended on a poorly played game at home against the Giants in the Wild Card Round. The defense can bear much of the brunt for the Wild Card loss, although any loss is a team effort. This was not anything surprising to Vikings fans, the defense obviously struggled all year, and seemed to worsen as the season wore on.
Ed Donatell
When Kevin O’Connell (KOC) took over as head coach, he and Kwesi-Adofo-Mensah (KAM) decided to bring the aging and experienced Ed Donatell to be the defensive coordinator. It was announced that Donatell was hired by the Seahawks in a senior defensive role, but a week later, it was announced that the Vikings hired Donatell as their defensive coordinator. Donatell is a bit of a disciple of Vic Fangio, but hasn’t quite managed to have the same level of success as Fangio.
Donatell had most recently served as the Broncos’ defensive coordinator from 2019-2021, and has been in the NFL as a positional coach since 1990. He served under Mike Sherman as the defensive coordinator of the Packers from 2000-2003, and as the Falcons’ defensive coordinator from 2004-2006. Donatell also had a brief stint in the NCAA, as he served as the defensive coordinator for the University of Washington Huskies for the 2008 season, but the entire staff was let go after a winless 2008 season.
Coaching Success
We can look back at Donatell’s career to see how well his defenses did compared to the rest of the league at the time. I hate to use bulk yardage stats, as the game has morphed over the years. 3,900 passing yards led the league in 2000, which is slightly above league average in 2022. We’ll take a look at the defenses that Donatell coached as defensive coordinator, and where they ranked among the 32 NFL teams. I’m using PFR for my information.
| Year/Team | PYds Rnk | RYds Rnk | Pts Rnk |
| 2000 Packers | 19 | 8 | 14 |
| 2001 Packers | 15 | 16 | 5 |
| 2002 Packers | 3 | 21 | 12 |
| 2003 Packers | 23 | 10 | 11 |
| 2004 Falcons | 22 | 8 | 14 |
| 2005 Falcons | 14 | 26 | 18 |
| 2006 Falcons | 16 | 29 | 9 |
| 2019 Broncos | 11 | 16 | 10 |
| 2020 Broncos | 16 | 25 | 25 |
| 2021 Broncos | 8 | 15 | 3 |
| 2022 Vikings | 31 | 20 | 30 |
As you can see, Donatell has had some success as defensive coordinator. His defenses tend to perform fairly well. Until this year, that is. What does this tell us? Not much, really. It does make one wonder if Donatell is truly the problem, though. Could it be that the players on the Vikings defense are just that bad? Let’s look at the Vikings’ defensive rankings over the past couple years to see how bad they were prior to the new regime’s arrival.
| Year/Team | Pyds Rnk | RYds Rnk | Pts Rnk |
| 2020 Vikings | 25 | 27 | 29 |
| 2021 Vikings | 28 | 26 | 24 |
As you can see, Donatell didn’t exactly inherit a world-beater defense. The D was a shell of its former elite 2017 self. The roster is aging, and is filled with numerous bad contracts, mistakes Rick had made prior to his long-overdue departure. Looking at all of this, we have to ask a question, along with a follow-up: Is Ed Donatell THE problem? If so, who do you replace him with? If not, what is the solution? Either way, the real question is “Where do we go from here?”.
Options
New Coach
If Ed Donatell is indeed the problem, then the solution is obviously to replace him. Mike Pettine is already on staff, and has defensive coordinator experience. This is an obvious easy fix, but is it the best option? Some other guys who may be available are current Broncos DC Ejiro Evero, our old pal Mike Zimmer (not happening, although I wouldn’t be opposed), who is currently a consultant at Jackson State, and Jim Schwartz, who is currently a senior defensive assistant for the Titans.
Rebuild the Defense
If the Vikings feel that Donatell can field a competitive defense, then they feel the problem is the personnel, and they’ll obviously look to make some major personnel moves on defense during this off-season. The team is operating with only four draft picks in the 2023 draft, they have numerous poorly constructed contracts on the books that they will need to somehow shed, and they seem to have a lot of work to do. This is a complex issue that will require a lot of space, so we can look at this option more in-depth in future stories.
For now, what do you think? Looking at Donatell’s history, do you still feel that he is THE problem with the Vikings defense, or was he just dealt a crappy hand in Minnesota and should be given another year with an infusion of fresh talent before we move on? This will be KOC’s and KAM’s first major staffing decision. Let’s see how they handle it.
Should the Vikings move on from Ed Donatell?
- Yes, fire him yesterday (70%, 35 Votes)
- Keep Donatell and fix the personnel issue(s) (12%, 6 Votes)
- Maybe (10%, 5 Votes)
- I don't know (8%, 4 Votes)
Total Voters: 50
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Remember how bad those defenses were before Zimmer was brought on board. Those were worse than this year, only because this year we manufactured turn-overs
Yep, I recall them vividly. I remember Rodgers carving us up for 300 & 400 yards every damn time we played them. WRs running around wide open all day. This year was very similar to those defenses.
The years as DC in Denver are irrelevant, he didn’t run the defense or call the plays, Fangio did.
Valid point.
I can see keeping him if they get rid of all our defensive players and rebuild. I guess I don’t care either way. The rebuild is going to take time. It’s not like there is a magic cure that will equal a Super Bowl next year. We are still on pace for our once-a-decade NFC Championship appearance, so 2027ish is the target date. That means we have like the next four seasons to figure it out. Whether Donatell gets another year or not probably doesn’t matter that much if that is the big picture.
Not really, I just like this gif.
It is a good gif.
Interesting analysis, he has never really had a stinker of a defense until this year…
Leads me to believe it is more a player problem than a coach problem.
I was honestly surprised at how well his previous defenses have performed.
Is Wade Philips available? Hard to tell if Donatell was the main problem, or the aging and declining roster, but something must be done with the defense.
Vikings will play a first place schedule next season, will be challenge to field an at least somewhat competitive defense.
Yeah, agreed. Shit ain’t gonna get easier. Thing is, can the Vikings D get any worse?
Wouldn´t bet on them not being able to top this year´s “performance”, especially if they don´t nail at least half of the upcoming decisions. New regime has their work cut out for them.
Either get him better players, or fire him.
Or both .