Brian Flores has quite the opportunity on his hands on Sunday in Week 4 of the 2026 NFL season.
Flores is now the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, and they’re taking on his former Miami Dolphins.
Known for his aggressive play calling for his defense, Flores can get after the Dolphins.
To be fair, he gets after every opponent. But there might be a little extra for Flores on Sunday.
Why Did Dolphins Fire Brian Flores?
The Miami Dolphins chose not to appreciate the fact that Flores had led the Dolphins from 1-7 during the 2021 season to finish 9-8.
In early January, Flores was fired. And it was a surprise.
“Coach Brian Flores wasn’t asked about his job security after the game,” ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques wrote when Flores was fired, referencing their win to finish the season. “He was asked about what it meant to him to sweep the Patriots, his former team. He was asked how it felt to finish the season 8-1. He was asked about his confidence in his ability to build for the 2022 season. But not about his job security; he was expected to enter next season with one of the hottest seats in the NFL, but it would still be his seat.”
The Dolphins fired Flores 12 hours after the referenced press conference.
This is what Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said at the time:
“An organization can only function if it’s collaborative, and it works well together. And I don’t think that we were really working well as an organization [the way] it would take to really win consistently at the NFL level.”
Ross kept Chris Grier as the GM, so he opted to go with that side of things rather than with the leadership on the sideline.
Brian Flores With Dolphins
Flores became the Dolphins’ coach before the 2019 season. It was his first NFL head-coaching job.
The Dolphins went just 5-11 in that first year.
The next season, Flores led Miami to a 10-6 record.
And in that final season, as mentioned, the Dolphins finished 9-8 despite the miserable start.
Flores had a 24-25 record in his three seasons with the Dolphins.
Flores eventually sued the NFL, as well as three teams, alleging systemic racial discrimination in the NFL head coach hiring and firing process.
He also accused Ross of offering him extra money to tank games during the 2019 season.
Flores’ allegations also included that the Dolphins wanted him to tamper with a free agent quarterback — in this case, Tom Brady.
Regardless of the truth of the matters, Flores’ decision to push back likely hurt his chances of a new head coach job.
But as DC in Minnesota, he’s been everything the Vikings could’ve wanted — and he might up the heat against the Dolphins on Sunday.
Why Dolphins Fired Brian Flores Despite 2 Winning Seasons