The Minnesota Vikings have been the most blitz-happy team in the NFL this season, sending pressure 135 times in their first six games, an astounding 57.9 percent of their defensive snaps. To put this in perspective, last season, the New York Giants led the NFL, blitzing on 39.7 percent of their defensive plays.
Despite their blitz-heavy approach, the Vikings have only managed 23 quarterback hurries, the eighth-most in the NFL. In contrast, the San Francisco 49ers have tallied 27 hurries while blitzing only 20.3 percent of the time, the fourth-lowest percentage in the league.
Yet, the Vikings have accumulated 18 sacks this season. This fact isn't lost on 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who emphasizes the importance of preparing for the relentless pressure, hoping to keep quarterback Brock Purdy upright for most of the game.
"It'll be huge," head coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday on Bay Area radio station KNBR. "I mean, that's really what they do. And we faced a lot of that versus the Giants here a couple of weeks ago, and I would say these guys do a lot more of it. The Giants turned it up a little bit in our game, but these guys have really done it in every game, and it's basically what they do."
The Giants blitz 38.1 percent of the time. The 49ers have already faced the Giants this season, beating them 30-12 in Week 3. However, the Vikings' defense presents a more formidable challenge.
"Obviously, they love to bring the whole house and all the zero looks that they've got, and then being able to bluff out of that and stuff," Purdy told reporters on Friday. "So, they do a really good job with it. On film, it may look like, 'Oh man, there's some space and stuff,' but they do a good job with bracketing stuff and sort of just anticipating what teams are going to try to do.
"And so, they're really well coached. They do it well, and then I think all of their players are really smart, and they know what they're trying to do within the scheme. So, for us, it's like, we've got to be ready for obviously having answers with zero and pressure and stuff. But you know, at the same time, we've just got to be smart. For myself, we've got to be smart with the ball. That's what they're trying to do is pressure the quarterback, get the quarterback to make some mistakes and stuff."
Furthermore, the 49ers must also be prepared for the Vikings' deceptive defensive formations, which can disrupt the rhythm of an offense expecting a blitz that never comes.
"Now, all of a sudden, they don't blitz, and they pop everybody out," Shanahan said. "And you're thinking you're trying to get rid of the ball, and there's a big hole there, it looks like, and just a D-lineman pops out right under it and either tips it or picks it.
"So it's that whole illusion of stuff that's going on the whole time where it seems like there's so many guys out there, it seems like there's six guys on the line almost every time, and they're coming all these plays. Then all of a sudden, you change protection, you put everybody up in there, and it's only a three-man rush, and you've got everyone in protection trying to block, and so you only have two guys out on a route, yet they have eight guys in coverage.
"And then your quarterback is just holding onto the ball, and you can do it for a while because only three guys are rushing, but it's hard to get two guys open versus eight."
While Shanahan acknowledged opportunities for big plays against a heavy blitz, he also stressed the need for careful play-calling, noting the risk of not responding correctly to the defensive strategy.
Shanahan explained, "And you got to make sure that if you call a play that doesn't have an answer versus those, you better be right when you call it because if not, you're going to see your quarterback on the ground, best case scenario. You just hope that you end up with the ball."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.