Week 3’s Brian Flores-Zac Taylor Rematch Re-ignites A Sneaky Rivalry

One thing I enjoy as a football fan is the “non-canonical” rivalries that fan bases develop with random opponents.

The most obvious example of this in Minnesota is the collective vendetta against the New Orleans Saints, which has escalated from devastating moments, such as the 2009 NFC Championship game or Alvin Kamara’s six touchdowns on Christmas in 2020. There have also been vindicating moments, including the Minneapolis Miracle and the overtime win in the 2019 Wild Card game.

We don’t like them, they don’t like us. It’s a beautiful thing!

There’s been a new budding non-canon rivalry that I think may be bubbling up beneath the NFL collective consciousness, and it’s between the Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals. The Justin Jefferson vs. Ja’Marr Chase debate — and by extension, the Jefferson/Addison vs. Chase/Higgins debate — continually wages online every time someone posts their list of top receiving duos.

And if you’re Brian Flores, I think you’ve got an axe to grind with Bengals head coach and play caller Zac Taylor for what he did to your defensive experiment in 2023.

These two teams meet again in Week 3 this season, creating another opportunity for a chapter in this relationship of mutual resentment. It also may be the biggest obstacle between the 2025 Vikings and a 5-0 start.

The Bengals game was the first thing to jump out at me when the schedule was released. Minnesota’s schedule is one of the league’s toughest, primarily due to the strength of its division rivals and the teams it drew by winning 14 games last year.

There are no easy games in the NFL. Still, eventually facing the likes of the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders, and Baltimore Ravens (all teams that have won playoff games and/or the Super Bowl) on top of playing in one of the most competitive divisions in the sport is a daunting task. However, the NFL did the Vikings a favor by laying things out for their young quarterback to start his career with a relatively smooth runway.

Minnesota’s first five games of the year are winnable. I’d argue the Vikings should be favored, or at least have even odds, in each of those games. You’ve got to start on the road against the Chicago Bears on Monday night, and then handle the two-week stretch across the pond. Still, there are reasons to be optimistic about the team getting off to a fast start.

Weirdly enough, the game that scares me the most is this pesky Cincinnati team coming to U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 3.

It’s paramount that this defense plays to the level it did for most of the season, especially early, while J.J. McCarthy is still adjusting to the NFL. Cincinnati provides one of the most stressful tests early in the year.

The Flores defense we see today is not the same one Zac Taylor solved like a Rubik’s Cube in 2023. Back then, it was a daring dichotomy of max pressure and max coverage looks where the Vikings led the league in six-man blitzes and three-man rushes, with eight in coverage. The secret sauce was also their method of blitzing, known as a “Bengal Hawk” blitz, where the players decide who drops and who blitzes entirely based on the offense’s blocking assignments to get favorable matchups and overloads.

This worked really well … until it didn’t.

Taylor figured out how to manipulate Minnesota’s rules for who stays and who goes to his advantage. The next thing you know, we’ve got an interior defensive lineman covering a check-down in space, which is undoubtedly not how Flores would want that to go. Combine that with what Cincy was doing deep, using dagger concepts to find shots up the seam against Minnesota’s safeties, plus some great individual play from guys like Joe Mixon stonewalling players in pass protection or Tee Higgins making some ludicrous catches to tie the game.

Shortly after that, the book was out on the Flores defense, which largely collapsed late in the year as teams copied Taylor’s formula to great success.

To Flores’ credit, he didn’t remain stagnant. He went into the lab and cooked up an entirely new attack last year. Once again, he found great schematic success bolstered by Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard, who were upgrades on the defensive line, and stalwart linebacker Blake Cashman. It was a whole new package of versatility, and Flores was on a heater as a play caller for most of the year, except for basically four games.

Two against the Detroit Lions, and two against the Los Angeles Rams.

There’s common DNA in both those teams. What’s troubling me is how much Cincinnati also shares many of those traits. A confident quarterback who executes well against the blitz? Check. Dynamic receivers who can exploit their weakness at corner? Check. Talented “wide-zone” playcallers capable of identifying a weakness and exploiting it repeatedly? Definite check.

Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins will keep Flores up late tinkering this offseason. Burrow is one of the best in the league under pressure. He can stay cool and deliver a strike to the open read despite staring down a free blitzer. I have some confidence in this defense’s ability to slow down one elite receiver by bracketing them as a collective effort. Still, the Vikings don’t have the juice at corner to keep up with Chase and Higgins for 60 minutes.

Taylor pencil-whipped Flores in their last chess match, and Flores still has some proving to do against this mold of play caller. He faces something similar every day at practice in Kevin O’Connell, and the two will need to work together to shore up their vulnerabilities heading into that game.

If Minnesota can stymie Cincinnati’s offense, its defense doesn’t bring nearly as much anxiety. The Bengals game could be an opportunity for a nice outing for McCarthy in front of the home crowd. If they can manage to weather that storm, there’s a real possibility they could be undefeated coming off a bye when Philly comes to town in Week 7.

While we’re talking about “pseudo-rivals,” how sweet would that be to go into the Eagles game with some momentum and give the reigning champs something to sweat about?

I’m absolutely counting many chickens long before they’ve hatched. Still, what is July for other than reckless speculation? Prove you can slow down the Bengals enough to get the win, and Minnesota could find themselves the buzz of the league again this season.

It’s time for Flores to slay one of his demons and give the Vikings momentum heading into the hardest part of their schedule.