ESPN Predicts Brian Flores to Accept HC Gig
The Minnesota Vikings’ 2024 campaign is over after a hapless playoff showing against the Los Angeles Rams in Glendale, Arizona.
ESPN Predicts Brian Flores to Accept HC Gig
The fancy 14-3 regular season record was all for naught. So, the offseason is here, and soon, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores will learn his fate as a head coaching candidate. To date, he’s on tap to interview (or has interviewed) for top jobs with the Chicago Bears, New York Jets, and Jacksonville Jaguars.
And according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, Flores will end up as the Bears’ next skipper. That’s Graziano’s official prediction from an article forecasting each applicable franchise’s head coach selection.
“There are hurdles for Flores — who appears to be a strong candidate for the Jets job, as well — to clear before any team can hire him. That’s especially true in Chicago; there will be questions about his past relationship with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in Miami as the Bears evaluate him as a candidate to shepherd Caleb Williams’ development,” Graziano explained.
Under Flores in 2024, Minnesota’s defense ranks second best in the NFL per EPA/Play. The group was elite by nearly every efficiency metric.
Graziano continued, “But by all accounts, it sounds like Flores has made a very different impression on people in Minnesota than he did in Miami. He has been public about the reasons things went wrong for him with the Dolphins and what he has learned from that situation that would make things different at his next stop. One more relevant note here: Flores and Bears GM Ryan Poles both went to Boston College, so there’s a connection there.”
Flores coached the Miami Dolphins from 2019 to 2021 before a controversial split. Miami allegedly asked Flores to tank games for better draft picks, which he refused. The young coach later sued the NFL for a sham interview process during the 2022 coaching carousel, litigation that is still pending.
Last year, Flores turned the Vikings’ defense around from doldrums to respectability in one season but curiously received no interviews for head coaching jobs. This year is different, though, and Flores could reasonably depart Minnesota.
Graziano also mentioned the Jets as a landing spot for Flores, but he ultimately predicted Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith for that post.
Whether Flores stays or leaves should be decided within a few weeks.
If he receives a promotion, defensive coordinator prospects like Robert Saleh, Brandon Staley, and Jerod Mayo could be available to the Vikings as a Flores replacement.
Chicago finished 5-12 this season.
Sam Darnold Sounds Like a Goner
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.
You must be logged in to post a comment.