There is little argument that Brian Flores is among the most talented defensive minds in the NFL, but he appears to have struck out again during a head coaching cycle that saw 10 of just 32 total jobs come open, six of which teams have already filled.
Two of those positions exist in the AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers. Flores interviewed for both jobs, once in Baltimore and twice in Pittsburgh. However, the Ravens landed on former Los Angeles Chargers DC Jesse Minter, while the Steelers hired former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy.
Those results make it a near certainty that Flores will return to the Minnesota Vikings as their defensive coordinator, even despite interviewing for at least one other such position with the Washington Commanders.
The only way Flores won’t be back with the Vikings for a fourth year after inking a contract extension to remain the DC is if he ends up landing the top job with either the Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns or Las Vegas Raiders. He has yet to interview with any of those organizations as of Saturday, January 24.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk recently noted the two likely reasons Flores didn’t get the head coaching position he’s sought since the Miami Dolphins dismissed him after three years as their HC following the 2021 campaign.
“Beyond his lawsuit against the NFL and four teams (Dolphins, Giants, Broncos, and Texans), which legally should not be a factor but let’s not be naive, there are questions about Flores’s time with the Dolphins and his time with the Vikings,” Florio wrote Saturday. “Recently, former Minnesota assistant Mike Pettine said just enough to confirm the existence of a red flag.”
Vikings Assistant Head Coach Mike Pettine Called Out Brian Flores After Retiring in January
GettyFormer Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine.
Pettine, who served as the assistant head coach of the Vikings for the last four years and worked with the linebackers in 2023 and 2024, appeared on the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show late last week and hinted at personality clashes and philosophical differences with Flores before Pettine’s retirement announcement earlier this month.
The hosts asked Pettine — who served as head coach of the Browns in 2014 and 2015, sandwiched between long DC stints with the New York Jets and Green Bay (plus 2013 with the Bills) — for his thoughts on Flores as a potential head coach in the NFL.
“Probably not many that I would prefer to share,” Pettine responded. “We didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, and that’s why I spent this past year on offense. I was there in [2023] and [2024] on defense.”
Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa Described Brian Flores as ‘Terrible Person’ After Their Time Together in Miami
GettyMiami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Flores also clashed with members of the Dolphins organization, particularly quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who made some explosive comments about Flores after he landed in Minnesota and Mike McDaniel stepped in as the head coach in Miami.
“[If] you have a terrible person that’s telling [you] things that you don’t want to hear or probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re gonna start to believe that about yourself,” Tagovailoa said of Flores during an interview on the “Dan LeBatard Show” in August 2024. “That’s sort of what ended up happening. It’s basically been two years of training that out of, not just me, but a couple of the guys as well that have been here since my rookie year all the way [until] now.”
Tagovailoa made the comments less than one month after inking a four-year contract extension with the Dolphins worth more than $212 million. However, McDaniel benched Tagovailoa late in the 2025 season and the QB’s future with the franchise is now in serious question.
Meanwhile, the Dolphins fired McDaniel who will work next season as the Chargers’ new offensive coordinator.
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