This Isn’t Bill Belichick’s Brian Flores Anymore
Credit: Jamie Saba\/Imagn Images
Tua Tagovailoa recently put Brian Flores on blast during a recent interview on The Dan Le Batard Show. Tua opened up about the difference in leadership styles between current Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and Flores, who served as the Dolphins head coach from 2019-2021. You can read Tua’s full quote here, but it essentially boils down to Flores using positive punishment versus McDaniel using positive reinforcement to influence behavior.
“If you woke up every morning and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong, that you shouldn’t be here, that you haven’t earned this…
and then someone come and tells you, ‘You are the best fit for this…How you that make you feel?”
– @Tua describes the… pic.twitter.com/bBHI6IsVlj
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) August 19, 2024
What really caught the attention of Minnesota Vikings personnel was when Tagovailoa called Brian Flores a “terrible person”. This prompted a flurry of public statements from coaches and players within the Vikings organization who all spoke highly of Flores’ character. “We just love him, man,” said safety Josh Metellus. “He’s been great to us. I know everybody else has their own opinion, but as long as he’s been a Viking, he’s been good to the team.”
Dolphins fans have every right to be resentful towards Flores. There’s nothing wrong with a coach being tough on players, but what Tua claims about Flores isn’t that. Telling someone on a daily basis that they suck at their job and don’t deserve to be there goes beyond the realm of tough love. Those are the words of someone who wants to tear a person down by destroying their confidence and self-worth.
That being said, this relationship happened over five years ago and the version of Flores the Vikings know and love today is a far cry from the brutally honest Bill Belichick disciple of yesteryear.
Flores cut his teeth as a coach in New England from 2008 to 2018, where he had “The Patriot Way” of being a notoriously tough coach instilled in him. Just like Matt Patricia, Josh McDaniels, and Bill O’Brien did. Unfortunately, “The Patriot Way” doesn’t work in most cases, unless you have a quarterback willing to embrace that mentality like Tom Brady did. That’s not a knock on Tua, either. New England had their fair share of failed quarterbacks in the post-Brady era, such as Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe, who couldn’t adhere to “The Patriot Way”. Tom Brady was just a different breed of quarterback who made everything work.
Flores found that out the hard way in Miami, and was supposedly fired because his relationship with Tua and other members of the team soured. Patricia and McDaniels suffered similar fates. It’s a little more complicated in Flores’ case, as he claimed that he was fired for not tanking games. “There was a conversation about not doing as much as we needed to do in order to win football games,” Flores said, referring to Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. “Take a flight, go on vacation, I’ll give you $100,000 per loss — those were his exact words. To disrespect the game like that, trust was lost, and there were certainly some strained relationships, and ultimately, I think that was my demise in Miami.”
In February 2022, Brian Flores filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL and three teams – the Denver Broncos, New York Giants, and Miami Dolphins. That case is still pending. Ever since then, Flores has been working his way up from the bottom. Nearly one month after his lawsuit was announced, Mike Tomlin hired him as the Steelers’ LB coach/defensive assistant for the 2022 season. Following the 2022 season, Kevin O’Connell named Flores the Vikings defensive coordinator.
O’Connell is also a former Patriot and a close friend of Flores for many years. However, his style of communication differs drastically from his former coaches in New England. As a former QB, KOC knows how to communicate with all players. He understands that some guys require encouragement while others need tough love. O’Connell’s political science degree also comes in handy when it comes to managing players and the media alike.
Most important of all, Kevin O’Connell doesn’t let his ego prevent him from taking a look in the mirror to find ways he can improve as a coach. Flores’ introspective response to Tua’s comments is a sign that he’s no longer strictly adhering to “The Patriot Way,” and is learning how to better communicate with players under O’Connell.
“Look, I’m human, so that hit me in a way that I wouldn’t say was positive for me,” Flores said. “But at the same time, I’ve gotta use that and say hey, how can I grow from that? How can I be better? And that’s really where I’m at from that standpoint. Do I feel like that’s me? No. How can I grow from that situation and create a world where that’s not the case that anyone says that about Brian Flores?”
Flores is now embarking on a journey of personal growth. Throughout this ordeal, he has shown signs of maturity and has learned valuable coaching lessons since his Miami days. The level of support Flores received not only on Sunday but throughout his Vikings tenure shows how far he has come in his development as a leader of men. While it’s perfectly understandable for Dolphins fans to dislike Flores for his past treatment of players, the Vikings also have legitimate reasons to defend his character.
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