Flores has transformed Minnesota’s defense, putting his name in the running for head coach.
Brian Flores hasn’t turned water into wine, but he has performed a football miracle by transforming the Minnesota Vikings’ defense from 2022 to 2023. Flores’ success, combined with his previous experience as a head coach, has his name floating around as a possible head coaching candidate when jobs open up after the season.
Flores responded professionally to Purple Insider’s Matthew Coller’s question about the situation on Tuesday.
“Matt, I really understand your question. My message to our team yesterday was that we have 35 guaranteed days. That’s all we’ve got for sure. “I told them they had 35 days to do everything,” Flores said. “I can’t give that message and then ignore it.” My attention is focused on these players, this team, and the next five games because that is all we have. I understand the question, but that is where my attention is focused.
“I ask them to block out everything else, and I’m blocking it out myself because I believe you have to lead by example, and I’m certainly going to do that.” I’m not blind to the fact that it’s out there. But I’m completely concentrated on the task at hand.
“As I previously stated, my message to those guys was: We have five weeks.” Let’s put everything into these five weeks and not look back and say, ‘Hey, my focus was on this, so it wasn’t on you guys.’ That is not going to happen. I think these guys work too hard; they’ve already put a lot into the season. “I understand your question, but that is not where I am right now.”
The Vikings rank 11th in the NFL in terms of defense, ranking 12th against the run and seventh in coverage grades, according to Pro Football Focus.
When asked if his agents remind him of the situation, Flores smirked, “Yeah, they know not to bring it up.”
