Coaches love it when a plan comes together.

Midway through the third quarter of Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Chargers, head coach Mike Zimmer must have loved what he saw from his defense on a big third-down sack of Justin Herbert.

With the Chargers leading by four, they faced a 3rd and 4 in their own territory. They lined up for the play with the quarterback in the shotgun and running back Joshua Kelley in the backfield, to Herbert’s right. The Chargers aligned with 11 personnel on the field in Y-Iso alignment. Tight end Jared Cook was alone on the right while the Chargers used a three-receiver bunch to the left:

Before diving into the defensive alignment, here is the route concept that the Chargers call on this play:

Cook, as the single receiver on the right, runs an out pattern. To the three-receiver bunch the Chargers have Mike Williams attack downfield on a vertical route as the point man in the bunch, while they implement a Drive concept with the other two receivers. Keenan Allen runs the shallow route while Jalen Guyton runs the deeper dig route.

Now let’s talk about the defense, as you can see pre-snap, the Vikings put linebacker Nick Vigil into the A-Gap, mugged up between the center and the right guard. Also lurking just off the ball is linebacker Erick Kendricks, aligned behind the defensive tackle and over the left tackle from the offense’s perspective. Oh, and do not forget about rookie safety Camryn Bynum, just outside the box to the right side of the offense.

With the Vikings showing potential pressure, Kelley stays in to block, scanning for threats inside-out. They’ll need him, as the Vikings are indeed bringing pressure. But just not how the Chargers expect:

Vigil drops into underneath coverage, as does defensive end Everson Griffen. But the Vikings still bring five after Herbert, as Kendricks and Bynum both blitz from depth. With Kelley involved in the protection, the Chargers have six to block five. But Bynum gets a free run at the quarterback:

How did Bynum get a free run at the quarterback? The end zone angle helps make the picture clearer:

With four threats to their left side (Vigil, Kendricks, Griffen and defensive tackle Armon Watts) the Chargers use a half-slide protection on this play. The right guard and right tackle fan to the right side, while the center, left guard and left tackle fan to the left side. Center Corey Linsley, with Vigil right on him, looks to him first, and then works to the left.

The pressure scheme the Vikings dial up works to perfection. As Griffen drops off into coverage, Watts attacks to the outside, which occupies left tackle Rashawn Slater. Kendricks slices into the A-Gap between Linsley and left guard Matt Feiler. Kelley, scanning for threats inside-out, sees Kendricks blitzing and works towards him, as does Linsley. Feiler, with Kendricks attacking inside of him and Watts working away to the outside, gets his shot in on the blitzing linebacker as well.

The result? Three players looking for work and trying to do the right thing end up blocking Kendricks, as Bynum has a free alley from the other side:

Sometimes a plan works to perfection. On this third-down play, it did for the Vikings.