With the news that Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores signed an extension with the team earlier this week, there was still a chance that he could have left for a head coaching opportunity somewhere else. On this Saturday afternoon, some news has just come down that would appear to have taken that possibility off the table.
Multiple sources, led by Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, are reporting that the Pittsburgh Steelers are on the verge of hiring former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy to fill their head coaching vacancy. That news would seem to indicate that Flores will not be getting a head coaching job this cycle and will be staying in Minnesota.
The two teams that Flores has taken head coaching interviews with this cycle were the Steelers, with whom he interviewed twice, and the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens hired Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter earlier this week, and now the Steelers appear ready to hire McCarthy.
If the Steelers do go ahead with the McCarthy hire, there will still be four head coaching vacancies remaining around the NFL: the Arizona Cardinals, the Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns, and the Las Vegas Raiders. As of today, Flores has not interviewed for any of those jobs. Now that he has signed his extension with the Vikings, it would seem unlikely that any of those teams would be bringing him in.
Here’s hoping that the Steelers’ hiring of Mike McCarthy means that we can all breathe a little easier as far as potentially losing Brian Flores to another team that needs a head coach.
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