The Chaotic Morning:
It is early in the morning on the infamous ‘Black Monday’. The day where organizations in the NFL that don’t make the playoffs decide on whether or not they should keep their Head Coaches and in some cases their General Manager.
It is 9:29 to be exact. The Bears and Vikings have already fired their Head Coaches and General Managers, and the Giants are expected to make a move similar to that of Chicago and Minnesota.
Next, a tweet from ESPN’s Insider Adam Schefter, who is tasked with following and reporting on who is in and who is out in the organizations throughout the day. The tweet immediately opens the eyes of NFL twitter:
Schefter announces that Miami Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores will no longer be the Head Coach.
Shocked — an understatement on the reaction of the NFL world. Flores had just led the Dolphins to two straight seasons as Head Coach where the team had over a .500 winning percentage. .576, or 19-17 to be exact. This same coach that led the team to win eight of their last nine games of this season after beginning the year with an abysmal 1-7 record was just dismissed.
So .. what happened?
Reports throughout the day have begun to come in saying that the Head Coach had troubles with maintaining healthy relationships throughout the organization. With players and with ownership.
Well regarded NFL reporter Josina Anderson asked a league source on what the key factor in the departure of Flores is:
“Relationships overall,” the source responded, dismissing the idea that it was a struggle to gain the power of the team:
Flores had disagreements with ownership and with some people higher up than him in the organization.
A report from Jeff Howe, who is a National NFL insider at The Athletic reported a little bit after the news broke that he was fired that Flores and General Manager Chris Grier didn’t always agree on key decisions for the direction of the team:
Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross essentially had to choose whether to side with Flores or Grier and in the end, he chose Grier.
What’s Next for Brian Flores?
Brian Flores will now likely look for a new Head Coaching job elsewhere, a title that he is expected to fill very quickly.
15 minutes after the firing of Flores was reported by Adam Schefter, he went on to say that Flores is expected to be a prime candidate for a Head Coaching job elsewhere:
A list of open Head Coaching jobs that Flores could fill as of 1:45pm EST on January 10th:
Jaguars
Raiders (Maybe)
Broncos
Vikings
Bears
What’s Next for the Dolphins?
Shortly after the firing of Flores began to surface, reports started suggesting that Jim Harbaugh who is the Head Coach at the University of Michigan would be a candidate for the Dolphins Head Coaching vacancy.
Those rumors were quickly shot down, as ESPN’s Jeff Darlington tweeted that the Dolphins are not targeting Jim Harbaugh and that the decision to fire Flores was completely independent:
When asked about it during today’s press conference, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was asked about Jim Harbaugh potentially coming to Miami to fill the vacancy:
“Jim is at the University of Michigan. I’m not going to be the person who takes Jim Harbaugh away from Michigan. I hope he stays there. He’s a great coach.”
Stephen Ross
The Dolphins are expected to begin their Head Coach search soon and could potentially look to complete their unfinished trade for Deshaun Watson that they were so close to completing at the trade deadline during the 2021-22 season.
