Buffalo Bills: 5 keys to upsetting the Minnesota Vikings

2. Play defense like they did in the second half vs. the Chargers

Much has been made about the Bills defensive struggles to start the 2018 season. For the first six quarters of the season the Bills defense resembled Swiss cheese more than the solid if not great unit that we expected to see.

Then something changed. At halftime of the Los Angeles game Sean McDermott decided to take over the reins of defensive play calling.

The Bills defense responded. They allowed only three second half points to the Chargers, were constantly hitting and hurrying Philip Rivers and nearly forced a handful of turnovers. The question most fans asked themselves after the game was: “Where had that been?”

Whether it was the change to McDermott making the play calls, the slap in the face of Vontae Davis bailing on his teammates or all of the above – something clicked. The Bills defense finally looked like the unit we expected to see this season.

If the Bills are going to upset the Vikings on Sunday (and have any chance to be competitive and win games this season) the defense needs to play like they did in the second half against the Chargers. While I do not expect them to hold every team to three points a half, they can do a hell of a lot better than the 28 they surrendered in the first half to that same Chargers team.

What they can do is provide solid coverage and run defense, rush the passer and create turnovers. They did all that in the second half and they will need to continue that trend on Sunday to upset the heavily favored Vikings.