While things are pretty quiet in Detroit Lions coaching news after they hired Drew Petzing to be their next offensive coordinator, the rest of the NFC North is still in the midst of this coaching cycle. We’ve already seen the Green Bay Packers lose their well-respected defensive coordinator, and now there is news for the other two divisional foes.
Let’s start with the bad news: the Minnesota Vikings have signed defensive coordinator Brian Flores to a contract extension to keep him in Minnesota for an undisclosed amount of time. Flores’ contract was up with Minnesota, leading some to believe he could take a defensive coordinator job elsewhere. He even interviewed for the Washington Commanders’ defensive coordinator job last week.
However, there is still a chance the Vikings lose him. Despite signing a new deal with the Vikings, Flores could still leave for a head coaching vacancy. Earlier this week, Flores completed an in-person interview for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coaching position, and last week he interviewed for the Baltimore Ravens’ job. Some are skeptical of Flores’ chances to land a head coaching job due to his ongoing lawsuit against the NFL, but we shall see.
Under Flores, the Vikings defense has finished seventh, fifth, and 13th in points allowed. Against the Lions this year, Flores’ defense held Detroit to just 24 and 10 points in their two matchups, including a season-low 231 yards of offense in their Week 17 matchup.
As for the Chicago Bears, they lost Eric Bieniemy, who left to reunite with the Kansas City Chiefs as their next offensive coordinator. Bieniemy served as the Bears’ running backs coach this year, and he helped produce one of the best rushing attacks in the league in 2025.
Chicago finished third in the NFL in rushing yards (144.5 per game) and third in yards per carry (4.9). How much credit goes to Bieniemy vs. new head coach Ben Johnson is up for debate, but it’s hard to ignore the improvement from D’Andre Swift and strong rookie season for Kyle Monangai. Swift finished with a career-high 1,087 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns, while Monangai added his own 783 rushing yards at an impressive 4.6 yards per carry.
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