Getty Defensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings.
The Minnesota Vikings are the second-best defense in the NFL in terms of points allowed through three games, and defensive coordinator Brian Flores is arguably the biggest reason why.
Minnesota has afforded its opponents just 30 total points through three games (10 points per contest) and the competition has been stout, including two teams that won playoff games this January in the Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers.
As a result, pundits have begun floating Flores as a possible candidate for head coaching jobs around the league. That includes the position of leading the Dallas Cowboys, which currently belongs to Mike McCarthy.
“Flores, 43, was 24-25 as the head coach for Miami from 2019-21. However, he is a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the NFL alleging racial discrimination with claims against the Giants, Broncos, and Texans,” Bill Bender of The Sporting News wrote on September 25. “Flores was with the Steelers in 2022 and has emerged as one of the hottest coordinators for his work with the Vikings this season. Minnesota ranks in the top 10 in scoring defense, and Flores is earning another shot as a head coach. It could work with Dallas if [Jerry] Jones wants a defensive-minded leader.”
Brian Flores Getting Serious Buzz for Head Coaching Jobs Around NFL
GettyDefensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings.
Dan Graziano of ESPN agreed last week that Flores has earned serious looks for another head coaching job as one of the NFL’s best defensive minds, calling him the “buzziest coordinator in the league.”
However, Graziano also noted the obvious complications around hiring Flores given the pending litigation he has filed against the NFL and several of its teams.
“On performance alone, he’s unassailable … [and] Flores is drawing raves for the way he disguises pressures and confuses quarterbacks. It started last season in Minnesota, but the players are executing it at a much higher level in Year 2 of the system,” Graziano wrote. “The question with Flores as a head-coaching candidate is, of course, that he still has a pending lawsuit against the NFL alleging racial discrimination in the league’s hiring practices … and it would still be hard to imagine an owner hiring a head coach who’s in the middle of suing the league.”
Brian Flores Has Remained in NFL Throughout Legal Proceedings, Had Success
GettyDefensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings.
All that said, Flores hasn’t been out of the league for even one game since his firing in Miami and subsequent lawsuit/media tour speaking out against what he has claimed was discrimination in his dismissal.
He coached the linebackers and served as a senior defensive assistant under head coach Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh before joining the staff of head coach Kevin O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in Minnesota.
The success Flores has had is irrefutable, as he also turned around a bad team in Miami and led the Dolphins to back-to-back winning seasons in 2020 and 2021. He has received criticism for his handling of Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, including from Tagovailoa himself, though Flores has navigated that criticism with relative success.
If the Vikings can continue playing as one of the best defenses in the league, Flores should at least get consideration for open jobs around the NFL — in Dallas or otherwise — come the offseason.
