It wasn’t long ago that Minnesota Vikings linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. took the NFL world by storm as a rookie
The undrafted free agent and former Cincinnati Bearcats star racked up 102 total tackles during his debut season in 2023 — and he wasn’t even deployed as a full-time starter until Week 8. For an undersized inside LB at 5-foot-10, his football IQ and efficiency were off the charts from Day 1. He finished with 70 solo tackles and just 10 misses, per Pro Football Focus, for a success rate of over 90 percent.
Pace’s encore season in 2024 wasn’t exactly what he or Vikings fans hoped it would be.
The 24-year-old struggled with multiple injuries, including quad, ankle, and hamstring issues. He wound up grinding out 12 games, but those gaudy tackling numbers never returned; PFF slapped Pace with a 44.8 tackling grade, with 47 solo stops and 12 misses.
The trend unfortunately continued into the start of the season, with the Vikings’ Week 2 home loss to the Atlanta Falcons the boiling point. Pace had a career-high five missed tackles in that game, per PFF, whiffing on 35.7 percent of his attempts.
Thankfully for Pace, Vikings fans, and Brian Flores’ defense, Week 3 was a reminder of what Minnesota’s talented young linebacker can do.
Minnesota Vikings LB Ivan Pace Jr. bounced back in a big way in Minnesota’s blowout win over the Cincinnati Bengals
Flores’ group was darn near perfect in Sunday’s 48-10 rout of the previously 2-0 Bengals, and Pace was a driving force.
While cornerback Isaiah Rodgers stole the headlines with an all-time performance, Pace’s get-right game was impossible to ignore. He led the Vikings’ dominant defense with 12 total tackles; he had nine solo stops with no misses, per PFF, marking one of the most efficient single-game performances of his career.
The Vikings need the 2023 version of Pace in the second level of their defense, especially with Blake Cashman currently on injured reserve.
There were some obvious red flags in the Falcons game, with Pace going high on multiple occasions and bouncing off running back Bijan Robinson’s shoulder pads. He was back to filling gaps and wrapping up ball carriers against the Bengals. With three QB hits, four run stuffs, and just two yards allowed in coverage, he might have been the Vikings’ best defensive player on the field not named Rodgers; PFF graded him 76.2 overall for the game, and he probably deserved better.
Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come. If Pace can rediscover the speed and confidence he played with as an overlooked rookie, Minnesota’s already stacked front seven will be even scarier as the calendar flips to October.