The Chicago Bears can weaken a primary rivals with their next head coaching hire.
Dan Graziano of ESPN predicted on Tuesday, January 14, that Chicago will hire Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores as the next leader of the locker room.
“The Bears’ list of candidates is massive, and Flores still hasn’t been allowed to interview with Chicago because Minnesota made the playoffs,” Graziano wrote. “But this is the name that comes up the most when I ask people around the NFL to make a prediction. Flores led the No. 5 scoring defense (19.5 points allowed per game), and the Vikings finished tied for fourth in sacks with 49.”
Brian Flores’ History as NFL Head Coach Raises Questions About Fit With Bears, Caleb Williams
GettyDefensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings.
Flores makes sense as a head coach in the NFL, having held the job before. He spent three years leading the Miami Dolphins from 2019-21, earning winning records in both of his final two seasons.
The bigger issues facing Flores and getting another head coaching job are two-fold. First, in a more general sense, Flores remains involved in a class action lawsuit against the league and multiple individual teams stemming from his dismissal in Miami. Those legal proceedings will complicate his candidacy anywhere until the courts resolve them.
Secondly, Flores had some very public issues with Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Before the season, Tagovailoa made multiple damning statements about Flores’ personality and his abilities to coach offense effectively, which raise natural questions about his fit with rookie Caleb Williams in Chicago.
“There are hurdles for Flores — who appears to be a strong candidate for the [New York] Jets job, as well — to clear before any team can hire him. That’s especially true in Chicago,” Graziano wrote. “But by all accounts, it sounds like Flores has made a very different impression on people in Minnesota than he did in Miami.”
Bears May Lose Lions Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson to Las Vegas Raiders
GettyOffensive coordinator Ben Johnson of the Detroit Lions.
Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson remains a top candidate for the Bears, though that could change relatively soon.
Chicago entered this cycle in a strong position to land Johnson, as the OC initially planned to interview with as few as two teams: the Bears and the New England Patriots. However, he later agreed to meeting with the Jacksonville Jaguars as well as the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Raiders are potentially the biggest threat to Chicago when it comes to landing Johnson’s services, even despite the fact that they have no answer at quarterback and no clear means of locking in a sure thing this offseason. That is because minority owner Tom Brady has reached out directly to Johnson in an effort to bring him to Las Vegas.
As a result, Graziano predicted that Johnson will ultimately land with the Raiders.
“I have been told new minority owner Tom Brady has been making a personal appeal to Johnson and trying to sell him on coming to Las Vegas to build a program together with a new GM,” Graziano wrote.
