ESPN Predicts Brian Flores to Settle for HC Gig

Kirby Lee-Imagn Photos.

The Minnesota Vikings’ 2024 marketing campaign is over after a hapless playoff exhibiting towards the Los Angeles Rams in Glendale, Arizona.

ESPN Predicts Brian Flores to Settle for HC Gig

The flamboyant 14-3 common season report was all for naught. So, the offseason is right here, and shortly, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores will study his destiny as a head teaching candidate. To this point, he’s on faucet to interview (or has interviewed) for high jobs with the Chicago Bears, New York Jets, and Jacksonville Jaguars.

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And in line with ESPN’s Dan Graziano, Flores will find yourself because the Bears’ subsequent skipper. That’s Graziano’s official prediction from an article forecasting every relevant franchise’s head coach choice.

“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 defined.

Beneath Flores in 2024, Minnesota’s protection ranks second finest within the NFL per EPA/Play. The group was elite by almost each effectivity metric.

Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports activities

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 earlier than a controversial cut up. Miami allegedly requested Flores to tank video games for higher draft picks, which he refused. The younger coach later sued the NFL for a sham interview course of in the course of the 2022 teaching carousel, litigation that’s nonetheless pending.

Daniel Bartel-Imagn Photos.

Final 12 months, Flores turned the Vikings’ protection round from doldrums to respectability in a single season however curiously obtained no interviews for head teaching jobs. This 12 months is completely different, although, and Flores might fairly depart Minnesota.

Graziano additionally talked about the Jets as a touchdown spot for Flores, however he in the end predicted Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith for that submit.

Whether or not Flores stays or leaves needs to be determined inside a couple of weeks.

Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator B. Flores chats with the media on Tuesday, December third, 2024, after his crew beat the Arizona Cardinals by a rating of 23-22 on December 1st. Minnesota employed Flores earlier than the beginning of the 2023 season to guide the protection.

If he receives a promotion, defensive coordinator prospects like Robert Saleh, Brandon Staley, and Jerod Mayo could possibly be out there to the Vikings as a Flores alternative.

Chicago completed 5-12 this season.

Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the College of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his every day YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The present options company, evaluation, and opinion on all issues associated to the purple crew, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates again to 1996. Listed responsible pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doorways (the band). He follows the NBA as intently because the NFL. 

All statistics offered by Professional Soccer Reference / Stathead; all contractual info offered by OverTheCap.com.