Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is one of the best schemers in the NFL, but defensive coordinator Brian Flores isn’t far behind him — if he’s behind him at all.
While O’Connell is a wizard on offense and with quarterbacks, Flores has proven at least something close to his equal on the defensive side of the football where he is confusing the heck out of opposing signal-callers. And not just any QBs, but playoff winners in C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy who — while still young — have both been lauded for their quick information processing skills under center.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano dubbed Flores the coordinator (offense or defense) with the most buzz across the entire league. However, the former head coach of the Miami Dolphins comes with some extenuating circumstances that could complicate his hiring as a head coach elsewhere in the NFL following this season.
Brian Flores’ History as NFL Head Coach Complicates His Future
GettyDefensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings.
Graziano laid out the complicated argument for Flores to earn a head coaching job in 2025 on Wednesday, September 25.
Right now the buzziest coordinator in the league is former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who’s in his second season running the Vikings’ defense.
On performance alone, he’s unassailable. The Vikings have allowed a total of 30 points this season to the Giants, 49ers and Texans, 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.
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.
Case in point, Flores probably earned at least an interview or two with how well he designed and led the Vikings defense last year, though he didn’t receive a single one.
Brian Flores Has Evolved Vikings Defense Beyond Even Where It Was Last Season
GettyDefensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings.
O’Connell has acknowledged the genius of Flores’ schemes, though he also noted a need to evolve within them after last year when Minnesota finished the season 7-10.
“Credit to [Flores] and his staff for the evolution of the defense, week in and week out, [and] where they took it to try to give our players a great chance to have success,” O’Connell said, per Kevin Seifert of ESPN. “At the same time, as they put more on tape and more on tape, maybe teams are honing in on certain ways that they want to play, and now it’s our time to either adjust or take a look at it with a microscope and say, ‘We need to be better in our execution there, and tighten up a little bit there, and understand formations and tells and tendencies.’”
The Vikings defensive coaching staff has clearly done that, as Minnesota is 3-0 and holding down playoff-caliber offenses.
The unit has also been helped by an elevation in quarterback play from the post-Kirk Cousins hodgepodge of signal-callers to a revitalized Sam Darnold in 2024, who is leading the league in TD passes (8) through three weeks.
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