Brian Flores orchestrated such an impressive turnaround by the Minnesota Vikings’ defense this season that many assumed he would be one-and-done as the team’s coordinator. Flores’ name was bandied about by various media outlets as a potential head coaching candidate and, at the very least, the thought was he would get an interview or two.
But nearly a month after the Vikings’ season ended, and with six of the eight head coaching openings in the NFL filled, Flores’ success in making a woeful defense respectable appears to have had little impact on the league’s owners and top executives.
The Vikings were not believed to even had a request from a team to interview Flores. The Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders have yet to make hires, but Flores isn’t in the mix for either of those jobs.
It would be one thing if several of the teams looking for coaches, a list that also included the Panthers, Raiders, Chargers, Falcons, Titans and Patriots, had all gone with offensive guys, but that wasn’t the case. The Raiders took the interim tag off former linebackers coach Antonio Pierce, the Falcons hired Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris and the Patriots promoted inside linebackers coach Jerod Mayo in what turned out to be a previously agreed upon succession plan.
So why was Flores’ success ignored?
It doesn’t take much to connect the dots on this one. First, Flores is still involved in a legal battle with the NFL that dates to February 2022, when he sued the league and a few teams, stating the NFL was “rife with racism,” particularly when it comes to the hiring and promotion of Black coaches. In July, Judge Valerie Caproni ruled in Manhattan federal court that she wouldn’t change her decisions to allow Flores to put the NFL and the Broncos, Giants and Texans on trial over claims that he and other Black coaches face discrimination. Caproni had ruled last March that Flores would have to pursue his claims against the Miami Dolphins through arbitration.
Flores had been coach of the Dolphins for three years, going 24-25, before being fired after the 2021 season.
It’s not shocking that Flores suing the league would make it very difficult for him to get a head coaching job, but not even an interview?
NFL owners likely will claim they didn’t consider Flores based on what happened during his time with the Dolphins. It was no secret that there were issues between Flores and…
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