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Another Suitor Emerges for MN Vikings DC
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- Another Suitor Emerges for MN Vikings DC
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings have a ton of questions that need answered this offseason, but for now, they are frozen in time. It's difficult to plan for an offseason, if you aren't sure who your 2026 defensive coordinator will be.
So, while the entire organization waits for Brian Flores to ( hopefully ) return, the Vikings will nervously watch as the 2026 NFL coaching carousel drops their free agent defensive coordinator off for job opportunities with other teams.
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
We've been told that there are a lot of teams interested in Brian Flores. Yet, as of Tuesday morning, the only reported interview request Brian Flores has received came from the Baltimore Ravens .
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It's worth noting that the Ravens are casting an extremely wide net (20 reported candidates), as they attempt to fill their first HC vacancy in nearly two decades. Oh, and Baltimore hasn't actually announced an interview with B-Flo, like they have seven other candidates.
Washington Commanders "hoping" to interview Brian Flores as defensive coordinator
We'll see if Flores gets his interview with the Ravens over the next day or two. In the meantime, the latest breaking news involving B-Flo comes from another team out East, the Washington Commanders. But it's not for head coach.
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According to Ian Rapoport (NFL Network) , the Commanders are "hoping" to get an interview with Brian Flores, for their open defensive coordinator position, under head coach Dan Quinn.
The #Commanders are hoping to interview #Vikings DC Brian Flores for their vacant defensive coordinator job, source said. Flores' contract is up in Minnesota, so he is able to look at other similar jobs. pic.twitter.com/ie2xaMDPnG
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 13, 2026
We have tracked previous steam, connecting Flores to the Dallas Cowboys ' defensive coordinator position, but this is the first reported DC interest from outside Dallas.
Why Flores to Commanders makes sense…
And this new report is especially interesting because the Commanders chose to bring Dan Quinn back as head coach next season, despite having fired both his offensive (Kliff Kingsbury) and defensive (Joe Whitt Jr.) coordinators from 2025.
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So… Brian Flores is determined to be an NFL head coach in the again, but he's doubting the league's likelihood to let it happen conventionally, a place like Washington — with a head coach in serious flux entering next season — could be the perfect landing spot.
Dan Quinn managing to scapegoat Kliff Kingsbury with the worst ranked defense in the NFL https://t.co/jFaKPSEq3S pic.twitter.com/9NMTFaKXyP
— Sports Counsel (@sports_counsel) January 6, 2026
After both of his coordinators played fall guy in 2025, Quinn will enter 2026 with his coaching seat hotter than any other in the NFL. If the Commanders were to hire Flores as, let's just say, "defensive coordinator and assistant head coach", would he really turn that down?
Because, not only would it be a promotion from his current title with the Minnesota Vikings, but it would pretty much lock him in as the future interim head coach, should Washington move on from Quinn midseason.
Barring a complete organizational meltdown in 2026, Kevin O'Connell isn't going anywhere… so there really is no chance B-Flo backs into a head coaching opportunity in Minnesota.
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MN Vikings NEED Brian Flores to return
For those who might not know, Brian Flores is the Minnesota Vikings' defense. His taking over as defensive coordinator may have been the most important move this franchise has made since firing Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman between the 2021 and 2022 seasons, and that includes the hiring of head coach Kevin O'Connell.
Remember, the Vikings defense under former defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, was among the worst in football , during KOC's first season on the job. It took one year for Flores to make Minnesota's defense average . By year three, it was elite .
Brian Flores defense ranks (yds per play/EPA):
2019 MIA HC 27th/32nd
2020 MIA HC 25th/7th
2021 MIA HC 13th/8th
2023 MIN DC 14th/17th
2024 MIN DC 11th/2nd
2025 MIN DC 3rd/3rd https://t.co/mvqYIKk7b3— We Want Dallas (@WeWantDallas) January 13, 2026
Brian Flores (who is a sick and twisted man) shows cover 0 with the safeties on the edges/Metellus in the A-gap, then bails before the motion to get to a two-deep shell, then plays man
Caleb is late to Odunze. Had a chance at the first if he's on time. But lots to think about! pic.twitter.com/fLQQovfjOq— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) September 9, 2025
Donatell's laid-back, reactive defense cratered any chances the 2022 MN Vikings had at advancing in the playoffs, during a Cinderella 14-3 season that was carried by Kirk Cousins and a fresh new offensive scheme brought by O'Connell and his young All-Star staff of QB-friendly assistant coaches.
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Firing Donatell and hiring Flores changed everything for the Vikings' trajectory under O'Connell, who was essentially allowed to focus solely on Minnesota's offense, knowing B-Flo would have the defense ready for action, no matter who general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah put on the field for him.
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