Analysis: How the defensive scheme that got Ed Donatell fired by the Vikings won the Eagles a Super Bowl

Ed Donatell was Vic Fangio’s right-hand man from 2011 through 2021 before they were fired by the Denver Broncos.

Kevin O’Connell arrived in Minnesota about that time and wanted a version of the famed Fangio defense. Fangio didn’t want to take a step back from head coach to coordinator, so he became an Eagles consultant while O’Connell’s Plan B for defensive coordinator became Donatell.

Donatell brought a lot of Fangio’s concepts to Minnesota for the 2022 season. The core concept was a heavy reliance on a four-man rush.

That concept got Donatell rightfully fired as soon as the 2022 season ended. On Sunday night, two years later, the same concept is the reason Fangio, as Eagles defensive coordinator, won his first Super Bowl ring in New Orleans, where his NFL coaching career began 39 years ago as Saints linebackers coach.

Moral of the story: Not all four men in four-man rushes are created equal.

In stopping the Chiefs from a historic Super Bowl three-peat in Sunday’s 40-22 beatdown, Fangio blitzed zero times. Zero. That’s only the fourth time a defense has done that in any game since Next Gen Stats started monitoring it in 2014.

With the best front four in football, Fangio’s defense generated 16 pressures in Patrick Mahomes’ 42 dropbacks (38.1%). Mahomes was sacked a career-high six times, hit 11 times and flustered 100% of the time.

When the score was 24-0 at halftime, one of the greatest quarterbacks the league has ever seen had a 10.7 passer rating, was 0-for-6 on third down, hadn’t crossed midfield and had thrown two interceptions, including a pick-6.

“Mahomes is very, very good when you rush five or six — at reading it, seeing the blitz — and then making big plays off of it,” Fangio told reporters after the game. “So the plan was not to do it much.”

Fangio is a great coach. And, yes, coaching is important. But without Philly’s front four, Fangio’s plan would have failed. Players trump schemes.

The Eagles used nine front-four players Sunday. Eight of them were drafted by Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman. Six of them are 25 or younger and were drafted in the past three years.

In 2022, the Vikings needed a defensive tackle. They had the 12th overall pick but traded down 20 spots and took Georgia safety Lewis Cine. Roseman said thank you very much and took monstrous Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis 13th overall.

A year later, Roseman took Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter ninth overall. With another first-round pick, he took Georgia edge rusher Nolan Smith Jr. 30th overall. Then, in the seventh round, Roseman loaded up another defensive tackle, Moro Ojomo from Texas.

On Sunday, Davis, Carter and Smith started while Ojomo played 25 snaps to help keep fresh legs chasing Mahomes. Heck, even Cine won a ring on Sunday. Signed by the Eagles last month, the former Viking suited up for all four playoff games but did not play.

Edge rusher Josh Sweat, 27, drafted in the fourth round in 2018, led the way with 2½ sacks and three quarterback hits while starting and playing 46 snaps (82%).

All six sacks and 10 of the 11 QB hits belonged to front-four players:

All last week, Fangio was overshadowed by Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who was going for his fifth Super Bowl ring after winning one with the Giants and three with the Chiefs. Fangio was mentioned more often for having an 0-8 record against Mahomes.

Those eight contests came while Fangio was coaching elsewhere, including last season in Miami, when the Dolphins lost to Mahomes 26-7 in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

Normally a two-high safety guy, Fangio played more Cover 4 in the Super Bowl because Mahomes had struggled against that look this season, throwing one touchdown and two interceptions while posting a 78.5 passer rating, according to Sports Info Solutions.

Again, coaching matters. But old Vic couldn’t have done any of this stuff — dropping seven into coverage on every single pass play?! — without the four gifted wild dawgs he turned loose on Mahomes on every play.

“They didn’t show us any unscouted looks,” Chiefs center Creed Humphrey told reporters. “It just came down to them playing harder.”

And great things like hoisting the Lombardi Trophy usually come down to consistently drafting great players and turning them loose.