Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores chats with the media on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024, after his team beat the Arizona Cardinals by a score of 23-22 on December 1st. Minnesota hired Flores before the start of the 2023 season to lead the defense.
The Minnesota Vikings possess a marvelous 14-2 record through 17 weeks, with sights set on Detroit this Sunday night for all the regular season marbles, taking on the Lions for the NFC North crown, the NFC’s No. 1 seed, and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
Vikings fans are very much living in the moment — rightfully so — but before too long, the purple team could lose one of its top leaders to the coaching carousel.
That’s defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who could be in line for a head coaching job when the 2024 postseason concludes. Flores’ name has been whispered in the rumor mill since head coaches started losing jobs a few months ago, and there’s a reasonable chance he skedaddles to lead a team in 2025.
Regrettably for Vikings fans’ sake, the Chicago Bears keep popping up as a logical destination. The Bears fired Matt Eberflus after an atrocious Thanksgiving game and will be in the market for their next skipper as early as now.
Per SI.com’s Albert Breer, Chicago cannot be ruled out of the Flores sweepstakes. “Another name connected to the position is Minnesota Vikings DC Brian Flores. He was a Boston College teammate of Poles in 2003, and the two have similar roots in the Bill Belichick system (Poles worked under Scott Pioli in Kansas City),” Breer wrote this week.
Chicago has lost 10 straight games, with its last win occurring in London — in Week 6.
Breed added, “I’m also told that Warren’s vetting of Flores with all his old connections in Minnesota (Warren worked for the Vikings for 15 years) yielded strong reviews for the 43-year-old. He will, of course, have to lay out a plan for how things would be different with Williams than they were with Tua Tagovailoa in Miami.”
The Bears also bubbled to the surface as a Flores destination three weeks ago. Bears podcaster and author Dan McNeil tweeted in early December, “Sources confirm these FOUR coaches are on the Bears’ list for HC: Ben Johnson, Brian Flores, Joe Brady, Mike Vrabel. They may want to talk to more candidates, but they’re targeting these four. More as soon as I get it.”
Flores would make all the sense in the world as the Bears skipper. He has a “Bears attitude” — tough as nails and fearless. Chicago also has a defensive backbone — it’s the franchise’s foundation, so to speak — and it wouldn’t be strange for that organization to roll with back-to-back defensively-minded coaches.
Not long ago, Flores expressed an explicit desire to return as a head coach somewhere in the league. In short, he wants to be a head coach again. It just has to be the “right opportunity,” Flores told ESPN’s Adam Schefter last month.
In fact, Flores told Schefter he would love to head coach again. “Now, I may get some resistance from my kids, who are having a great time here in Minnesota. They’re having a fantastic time here just with school, and basketball, and football, and friendships and things like that. I think I’d get a little resistance, but for me personally, it’s something that I’d love to do again. With that said, Minnesota has been a great spot for me. My family, we’re really enjoying it,” Flores said in November.
Flores last head coached in the NFL from 2019 to 2021, the Miami Dolphins’ skipper for three seasons.
The Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and New York Giants could also be Flores suitors if those clubs fire their current coaches.
Flores will turn 44 in February.
The Vikings’ defense, under Flores, ranks first in the NFL per EPA/Play and third per DVOA entering Week 18.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.