Vikings announce Brian Flores extension as defensive coordinator despite head coach interviews

One NFL caput coaching campaigner is staying enactment with his existent team.

The Minnesota Vikings announced connected Wednesday that antiaircraft coordinator Brian Flores volition stay successful his relation nether caput manager Kevin O’Connell, signing a declaration hold aft his three-year woody ran done the extremity of the 2025 regular season.

There was assurance wrong the Vikings’ gathering that Flores would enactment connected O’Connell’s staff, but determination was ever the accidental helium would get different ace astatine being a caput manager successful the NFL.

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Defensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings looks connected anterior to a crippled betwixt the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers astatine U.S. Bank Stadium connected December 29, 2024 successful Minneapolis.  (Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images)

He interviewed with some the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers for their vacancies astatine caput coach, with the second squad seeing him for an in-person interrogation connected Wednesday. Flores besides interviewed with the Washington Commanders for their vacant antiaircraft coordinator post.

It’s worthy noting the Vikings’ announcement doesn’t needfully mean helium has officially withdrawn from those 2 caput coaching jobs.

But, absent immoderate changes, Flores volition stay successful the Twin Cities to enactment with a defence that has been a formidable radical successful the league since taking over.

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"Brian has a unsocial quality to link with players, recognize their accomplishment sets, and enactment them successful positions to maximize their interaction connected the field," O’Connell said successful a property release. "The individuality of our defence is simply a reflection of his enactment and preparation. On a idiosyncratic level, I’ve truly valued the narration we’ve built implicit the past 3 years, and that shared trust, alignment and precocious modular volition proceed to beryllium captious to our success."

Defensive coordinator Brian Flores of Minnesota Vikings looks connected against the Seattle Seahawks astatine Lumen Field connected Nov. 30, 2025 successful Seattle. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Flores was antecedently caput manager of the Miami Dolphins, having led them from 2019-21 to a 24-25 grounds implicit 49 games. He wasn’t capable to get them to the playoffs contempt a 10-6 grounds successful 2020 and a 9-8 grounds successful 2021.

Flores besides sued the NFL and aggregate teams successful 2022, claiming the league was "rife with racism," and alleging systemic radical favoritism successful hiring. He claimed that teams conducted "sham" interviews for Black coaches nether the Rooney Rule, though helium believes they ne'er intended to prosecute them.

Flores named the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, and Dolphins successful his lawsuit.

A national appeals tribunal ruled successful August 2025 that Flores’ suit against the NFL for radical favoritism tin spell to trial. The ruling rejected the league’s effort to unit Flores into arbitration, which would person had Commissioner Roger Goodell serve arsenic the arbitrator.

Defensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings looks connected anterior to a crippled betwixt the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers astatine U.S. Bank Stadium connected December 29, 2024, successful Minneapolis. (Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images)

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In a determination written by Circuit Judge Jose A. Cabranes, the appeals tribunal said the NFL’s arbitration rules forcing Flores to taxable his claims to arbitration earlier Goodell bash not person the extortion of the Federal Arbitration Act due to the fact that it "provides for arbitration successful sanction only."

The Vikings sported the third-best defence successful the NFL this past regular season, allowing 282.6 yards per game. They were besides seventh-best successful points allowed per crippled (19.6).

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

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