On Monday it was reported that the Minnesota Vikings were hiring Pittsburgh Steelers senior assistant and linebackers coach Brian Flores to be their defensive coordinator. Flores was only with the Steelers for one season but his absence will be felt. Here are three takeaways from the loss.
This was inevitable
It was great the Steelers were able to get a year with Flores but no one thought Flores would be a long-term signing. His influence was felt in the second half of the season when the run defense steadily improved to one of the best in the NFL.
Did it have to be inevitable?
When the Steelers first hired Flores, I wondered if this might be the first step in a bigger plan to make Flores the team’s new defensive coordinator perhaps with an eye on an eventual head coaching job. But Pittsburgh seemed more than content to make Flores a one-year rental and serve as a way to keep Flores on people’s minds for when he started job hunting again.
How does the defense respond?
Pittsburgh overachieved on defense given the loss of T.J. watt for seven games and the underwhelming performance of the team’s biggest names. Flores gets credit for helping turn things around down the stretch and it remains to be seen if the team can keep it up without him.
