It has been three years since Brian Flores got hired by the Minnesota Vikings as a defensive coordinator. Powered by his defense, Minnesota is now soaking in the good times of a 6-0 start. Having been on the head coaching candidates list before, it’s obvious that he might be receiving more offers soon. However, for that, former Vikings player Adam Thielen believes that Flores must keep unnecessary pressure away and stay locked in where he is.
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“I think that’s the only reason, right? Just the off-the-field stuff. I think there’s probably a lot of talk around the league of that. I think there’s probably a little bit of ‘Hey, he’s been a head coach before and it maybe didn’t work out very well.’ And so there’s probably a little hesitancy there. I’m sure there’s a lot of those things. But I’m thinking for him. Why take on that stress?” he shared on the KFan podcast. “Like you can get paid just as much as dang near just as much as a head coach to be the best defense coordinator in the NFL. And why not just take that?
“Like the job security is pretty dang good. And you don’t have to move your family. And people love you here in Minnesota. Absolutely love you. And you get to focus on one thing. So if I’m him, I’m saying this is a pretty good gig, and no one’s attacking me if we lose. Like they’re coming after the head coach, not after me. And so you have a little bit less stress.”
Back in 2022, Flores interviewed with both the Chicago Bears and the Houston Texans for their own head coach openings. Back then, Flores was coming fresh off a 9-8 season, holding the head coaching role in Miami. In January 2022, the Dolphins fired him, after which he landed a job as the senior defensive assistant & linebackers coach in Pittsburgh.
After a season with the Steelers, he was hired by Minnesota and has been in charge of its defense since then, but the head coaching talks have not faded away. In January this year, he got a call from his old office and gave an interview to be Mike Tomlin’s successor in Pittsburgh. After all, Flores was that one candidate who shared a defensive pedigree with the three Steelers head coaches, Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Tomlin. But the discussions did not extend further as the Vikings signed Flores to a new contract as their defensive coordinator.
Even before the Steelers re-contacted Flores in January this year, in that month itself, the Baltimore Ravens too knocked on his door with a head coaching offer.
“We have completed an interview with Brian Flores for our head coach position,” the Ravens posted on X on January 13.
But none of it truly materialized. In February 2022, Flores, who was recently dismissed by the Miami Dolphins, filed a lawsuit against the NFL and three teams, alleging that the league’s hiring practices for Black coaches were “rife with racism.”
The NFL attempted to move Flores’ case, along with those of two other coaches, to arbitration, an out-of-court dispute resolution process. But in February, US District Judge Caproni declined to grant the league’s request, clearing the way for Flores to take his claims to court.
Given the legal issues that Flores’ name is attached to, it’s a bit difficult for him to crack a head coaching role. But Thielen believes that even if he does not get lucky, his present job is secure enough to make up for the loss.
Minnesota’s matchup with Indianapolis offered another example of Flores’ defensive expertise. In preparation for facing Daniel Jones, he made extensive use of blitzes to challenge the Colts’ offense. As reporter Kevin Seifert noted, Flores set an NFL record.
“Vikings blitzed Daniel Jones on 85% of his dropbacks, the highest rate for any NFL team in the past 20 seasons, per ESPN Research,” Seifert wrote.
Flores’ defense has allowed only 74 points through the first six games, while no other team has conceded fewer than 103. The mark is the Vikings’ lowest at this stage of a season in five decades. The Vikings became the NFL’s only unbeaten team when Week 7 handed the other two undefeated squads their first losses. So, there is absolutely no reason for Flores to run after a head coaching role.
