Brian Flores says that “gut feeling” led him to Minnesota DC job

On Wednesday, the Minnesota Vikings officially introduced their new defensive coordinator to the media.

Brian Flores was at the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center for his first meeting with the Twin Cities media since being hired by the team last week. He said that while he had an “opportunity” in Arizona, who had interviewed Flores for their head coaching position, he said he took himself out of the search and that he felt Minnesota was the right move for him and his family.

“Yeah, I mean there was still an opportunity with Arizona,” he said, not clarifying if he was offered the job or was simply still in the mix. “Like I said, this was — you almost get a gut feeling. I think we’ve all kind of had those, that this was the place for me and my family. This was the right opportunity.

“It’s funny, I was in church a couple weeks ago as this was all going on. And the pastor in Pittsburgh, he said, ‘In life there’s instances where you can either have control or you can have growth and you can’t have both.’ That kind of hit me pretty good. I just felt like this was a great opportunity for growth.”

Flores is likely going to get another opportunity to be a head coach in the NFL here at some point. If he can turn around one of the most porous defenses in the league in 2023, he might even get that opportunity as soon as 2024. It’s great to hear that someone with a pedigree like Flores brings to the table is this excited about being a part of what Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell are building in the Twin Cities, and hopefully that enthusiasm can be channeled towards helping this team take the next step towards contention.

If you want to watch all of the Brian Flores introductory press conference, you can check it out right here, courtesy of the Vikings’ FaceBook page.