Kevin O’Connell has the Minnesota Vikings in a really good position through the first nine games of the 2024 NFL season. As we saw on Sunday, a lot of this team’s success is thanks to what Brian Flores has done with the Vikings defense, since taking it over before the 2023 season.
When previous DC Ed Donatell was fired after 2022, Minnesota’s defense was a complete and utter embarrassment. That changed in Flores’ first season. Now in year two running that side of the ball, the Vikings rank first in defensive DVOA through 10 weeks (by a large margin).
Before being hired in MN, Flores was head coach of the Miami Dolphins. After some success early, his relationship with Dolphins ownership, the NFL and his own QB had spoiled. Not only was he fired, but he’s now pretty much blacklisted from the head coaching carousel.
Will the Minnesota Vikings lose Brian Flores?
It’s hard to know whether or not Brian Flores will get another shot at being an NFL head coach, given all the baggage that comes with hiring him. But that doesn’t mean he has given up the dream.
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Yes, Flo is crushing his current job, but he wants to be a head coach again, and he made that abundantly clear while on Adam Schefter’s podcast, an episode that released on Tuesday.
Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, whose unit leads the NFL in takeaways with 20, helped learn and refine his craft from former Patriots HC Bill Belichick and Steelers HC Mike Tomlin.
🎧 https://t.co/6pyQkSrWNy pic.twitter.com/kOZK39xg5x
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 12, 2024
“Look, there’s only 32 of these jobs, so I would certainly want to be a head coach in this league again… for me personally, I think [being a head coach] is something that I would love to do again.”
Brian Flores on being a head coach again (Adam Schefter Podcast)
The problem is how things ended in Miami. Tua Tagovailoa is out talking about how terrible of a person he is, and he has a massive lawsuit currently pending against the NFL. There are definitely hard feelings stemming from Flores’ time with the Dolphins.
Flores still hopeful he will land another head coaching opportunity
He still holds an ongoing lawsuit against the NFL as well as several teams. Nobody questions whether or not Flo has the mind and/or ‘football guy’ status to be a head coach again. His Tua issues and lawsuit against the league aren’t going to help his prospects of landing another head coaching job. But Flores doesn’t seem to think those things are deal-breakers either.
“I think a lot of people view the Miami experience as [if] I see it as all negative. I really don’t. I think it was a great experience for me and my family. There’s so much that I learned during my time there that’s made me a much, much better coach today… better in a lot of areas.
And just in reflecting on that time, there’s things that obviously I would like to do better, but there’s also a lot of things that I would continue to implement. But it wasn’t all negative. Obviously, there was some things that I would have done better, but I thought it was a great experience and I’ve really, really come out of it in positive way and excited about where I am now. I really learned a lot from it.”
Brian Flores on coaching the Miami Dolphins (Adam Schefter Podcast)
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The reality for Flores, and those considering his employment, is that he has his current group performing at a high level. The Vikings lead the league in DVOA and despite couple of losses, the defensive coordinator continues to have the group show up.
It remains probable that this could be the last season in which Minnesota employs Flores. His name should be a hot commodity during the offseason after being overlooked a year ago. There are definite hurdles in hiring a person suing your counterparts, but ultimately an organization’s purpose is to win.
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Flores is cut out to provide that sort of result for whomever writes his paycheck. We’ll see how the next coaching carousel goes for Brian Flores. He made it pretty clear that he’s not looking to remain a defensive coordinator forever though.
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