With his contract set to expire at the end of the current NFL season, a lot of people are wondering where Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores will be working in 2026.
Many expect Flores to interview for multiple head coach openings around the league in the upcoming offseason, and even if that doesn't happen, some have speculated that he might leave the Vikings to run another team's defense next year.
On Monday, Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell not only revealed that the team has had recent dialogue with Flores about continuing his tenure with the franchise, but he also expressed his appreciation for all that the Vikings' defensive coordinator has done during his three years with the organization.
"Yeah, we've had recent dialogue, very good dialogue.
Flo knows I love him. He was the guy three years ago that I identified to bring in here, and the growth and just our relationship and what he's meant to me personally is so massive.
And that's not even taking into account what he's been able to do defensively for our team and been such a huge part of helping us daily, minute to minute, weather the different storms we had to navigate this year. Things are in a really positive place right now.
I absolutely want Brian Flores to be the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings as long as we can have him. And I would say this: I do know that he's demonstrated a lot of things that if, you know, having gone through the process of the head coach hiring process before myself, I imagine he's going to be a pretty popular guy there as well. And rightly so, he's earned everything.
[But] that doesn't take away from the route we want to go to make sure he's our defensive coordinator here for the foreseeable future."
Minnesota Vikings trying to keep Brian Flores in Twin Cities
It's clear that O'Connell and Minnesota want Flores to keep running the team's defense after the 2025 season, and they've already taken some steps in making that happen. But it still isn't a guarantee that he will return to the Vikings for 2026.
Even if Minnesota and Flores agree to a new contract, he could still leave to become a head coach for another team this offseason. O'Connell and the Vikings know this, and while they would be happy for Flores to get another opportunity to be an NFL head coach, a return to Minnesota is obviously the team's preference.
As far as Flores leaving the Vikings in 2026 to become the defensive coordinator for a different team, Minnesota's head coach was asked about this possibility on Monday, and he shared that he doesn't anticipate that happening.
O'Connell believes the only way Flores will leave the Vikings in the offseason is if he's hired by another team to be their new head coach.