Ed Donatell fired after one season as Vikings defensive coordinator

The Vikings fired defensive coordinator Ed Donatell on Thursday afternoon, opting to search for a new leader for their beleaguered defense.

Minnesota finished 28th in the NFL in points allowed and 31st in yards in 2022, giving up at least 400 yards in seven of its last 10 games of the season. The Vikings allowed 431 yards in their 31-24 loss to the Giants in the NFC wild-card playoffs on Sunday, in a defeat that suggested Donatell's firing might be imminent.

"Today I informed Ed Donatell we will be going in a different direction at defensive coordinator in 2023," coach Kevin O'Connell said in a statement. "While this was a difficult decision because of the tremendous respect I have for Ed as a person and a coach, I believe it is the right move for the future of our football team."

The move came a day after O'Connell's season-ending news conference, in which the coach said he was still evaluating the Vikings' staff and had not reached any decisions about possible changes.

Donatell's future, though, seemed in doubt as far back as the Vikings' Dec. 11 loss to the Lions, after which O'Connell called for the defense to be more aggressive. He said then he was not considering changing defensive play-callers "as of right now," and the Vikings shifted some of their coverage schemes in the final weeks of the season, playing more man coverage and moving cornerback Patrick Peterson to the short side of the field in an effort to deny opposing quarterbacks easy throws.

The Lions game was the Vikings' fifth in a row in which they'd allowed at least 400 yards. They did so only once in the final four games of the regular season, but that came on Dec. 24 against the Giants, when quarterback Daniel Jones had one of his best days of the season. Then in the wild-card round, Jones became the first NFL player to throw for at least 300 yards and two touchdowns while running for at least 70 in a playoff game.

Donatell's firing might be just the first of the big changes for the Vikings' defense this offseason. Cornerbacks Patrick Peterson and Chandon Sullivan, as well as defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson, are scheduled to hit free agency in March, and players like safety Harrison Smith, edge rusher Za'Darius Smith and linebacker Eric Kendricks could be salary cap casualties if the Vikings, who need to clear more than $18 million of space by the start of the league year in March, don't work out restructured contracts with the veterans.

The 65-year-old Donatell had been Vic Fangio's defensive coordinator the previous three seasons in Denver, and O'Connell hired Donatell to run Fangio's scheme in Minnesota. The approach has become popular around the league and made an impression on O'Connell while he was the Rams' offensive coordinator practicing against Brandon Staley's similar defenses. O'Connell found the scheme, which aims to eliminate big plays with two deep safeties and prioritizes deceptive pass coverages over heavy run fronts, one of the league's toughest to solve. He brought Donatell in to oversee the defensive shift, which would mean new roles for players like Danielle Hunter and Harrison Smith after years in Mike Zimmer's system.

The Vikings, despite using two-safety coverage more than almost any team in the NFL, were vulnerable to big plays throughout the season. They gave up 73 plays of 20 yards or more during the regular season, the second-most in the league behind only Detroit, as miscommunications in coverage led to receivers running open downfield. The Vikings also gave up plenty of space in intermediate zones, with their cornerbacks playing off the line of scrimmage, and looked especially vulnerable as their pass rush struggled to generate consistent pressure late in the season.

"Every team in this league goes through the roster evaluation process of trying to fit players to the roles that you believe are best for them," O'Connell said Wednesday. "I feel like some of our guys really handled that with ease. With some of our guys, it was a work in progress, finding their premier role, and how they can thrive. Ultimately, that's on us as coaches and me as the head football coach, to make sure I look long and hard at that, and decide what's the best thing for our team moving forward from a personnel standpoint, working alongside [General Manager] Kwesi [Adofo-Mensah] and how we deploy our personnel."

Donatell did not respond to a message seeking comment. His son Steve, a Vikings offensive quality control coach, remained on the coaching staff as of Thursday night.

According to NFL rules, the Vikings must interview at least one external minority candidate for a coordinator position.

Former Lions defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant, Seahawks assistant head coach Sean Desai and Ravens assistant head coach Anthony Weaver had all interviewed for the Vikings' defensive coordinator job before Donatell was hired last year. The Rams also blocked O'Connell's request to interview defensive backs coach Jonathan Cooley about a job on the Vikings' staff last year. Vikings assistant head coach Mike Pettine and outside linebackers coach Greg Manusky have been NFL defensive coordinators, and Vikings defensive backs coach Daronte Jones was a defensive coordinator at LSU.