Brian Flores Says No Axe to Grind vs. Dolphins After Firing and Lawsuit (Don’t Believe Him)

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is the early front-runner for NFL Assistant Coach of the Year with his defense leading the league in sacks (14), ranking second in points allowed (13.7 per game) and third in takeaways (6). His heavy blitz scheme has discombobulated three top QBs in Jordan Love, Caleb Williams and Baker Mayfield as the defense has led the way to the terrific 3-0 start.

Flores is a major sub-plot to the Vikings home game on Sunday against a winless Miami team for whom he was head coach in 2019-2021. He was fired after winning records but no playoffs his last two seasons and then filed a lawsuit against the Dolphins, several other teams, and the NFL alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices. The case is in the discovery phase and will go to trial in federal court in the next year or so.

In his weekly media session, Flores was asked if he had any extra motivation about facing the Dolphins and owner Stephen Ross (who he claims pressured him to tank games for better draft picks, which Flores refused to do). Flores said he approaches every game the same and didn’t bite on the motivation question. I say don’t believe him.

I know I wanted to beat the Vikings more than any other team after I was hired by the Titans following a long front office career with the Vikings. Coaches and players have the same feelings about facing former teams so there’s no doubt Flores would like nothing more than to have his No. 2 ranked scoring defense pitch a shutout or otherwise dominate against the offensively challenged Dolphins who rank 31st in points scored through three weeks and lost their best offensive player—running back De’Von Achane—to a torn ACL last week.

I think the Vikings defensive players recognize the importance of this game for Flores and will play hard as usual but perhaps with a little extra edge.

For Kevin O’Connell and his last-ranked offense, this is a good week to get on track, especially for Kyler Murray although it will be more challenging if Justin Jefferson’s ankle sprain keeps him out this week (which I think is likely with a tougher test next week at New Orleans which happens to be Jefferson’s home town).   

Here are my Keys for a Brian Flores and Vikings Home Win over the Dolphins to Reach 4-0

1. Murray play better against a lousy pass defense: teams are completing an astounding 80.3% of passes against the Miami defense which also has not registered a single sack through three games. Opposing QBs have a combined 118.9 passer rating. With or without Jefferson (but better of course with him), Murray and the passing game that ranks last in the league should have a productive day.

I believe having Murray roll out and run more bootlegs with a run-pass option will help his cause as opposed to always staying in the pocket where his 5’10” height is a disadvantage in trying to throw over tall linemen. But if he runs, he’s got to slide or get out of bounds to avoid big hits.

Miami coach Jeff Hafley was the Packers DC the past two seasons, so he’s familiar with the Vikings offense and will throw some wrinkles at O’Connell and Murray that they’ll have to handle. But Hafley doesn’t have the caliber of players on D that he had in Green Bay.

2. Time for Tai Felton to step up or have Myles Price get more WR snaps if Jefferson is out: Felton was a third round pick in 2025 who had only three catches last season and has none so far in 2026 (he had two targets with no catches last week). If he can’t get open and make some plays, then they need to get Myles Price in as the third WR with Jordan Addison and Jauan Jennings. And Jennings is due to contribute more as he has one catch in two games played for the Vikings after hauling in 55 passes and nine TDs with the 49ers last season.

I also look for T.J. Hockenson to have a big game vs. inexperienced linebackers and safeties. With Josh Oliver out due to his torn biceps, Gavin Bartholomew becomes the second tight end and he looked good catching the ball in training camp.

3. Aaron Jones and Demond Claiborne run it well enough to set up play action and keep Hafley from putting extra defenders in coverage: the loss of Oliver (likely for the season) hurts the Vikings run game as he’s one of the best blocking tight ends in the NFL. Hockenson will get extra blocking duty and Bartholomew becomes a key part of the run game too.

The Dolphins are better against the run than the pass but the Vikings need to run the ball a decent amount and the O-line and fullback Max Bredeson along with the tight ends must open holes. Jones is having a fine season and it’s time for the rookie Claiborne to contribute more with his speed and perhaps carve out a role even after Jordan Mason returns following the bye in two weeks.

4. Protect the ball and win the turnover battle: the Vikings are second in the league with a plus 4 turnover ratio and their six takeaways rank third with the two giveaways fifth fewest. The Dolphins are minus 1 and have four giveaways vs. three takeaways.

5. Defense stop the run with Achane out including controlling Willis scrambles: the Dolphins will miss Achane who is a very talented and elusive back. Willis has 101 yards rushing and will try to scramble with the pass rush coming. Blake Cashman and Eric Wilson will spy on him.

6. Blitz, pressure and sack Willis: Miami has allowed nine sacks (fourth-most) while the Vikings are league leaders with 14 sacks. This is a huge mismatch in the Vikings favor.

7. Secondary cover like the past two weeks against a Dolphins team that traded away their best receiver Jaylen Waddle (to Denver): I expect a couple of picks against Willis as he throws under pressure.

8. Win on third down on both sides of the ball: after going 2 of 15 against the Bucs, the Vikings must get closer to 50% conversions this week on offense and shut down the Dolphins on third and fourth down.

9. Solid special teams: it appears Johnny Hekker will again replace Brett Thorson (hamstring). Hekker performed well as the punter and holder last week. Will Reichard is having a great year once again and comes off a big performance in Tampa (3 for 3 with two 50-plus).

Price is the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week and Month with a lot of confidence coming off his 86-yard TD return last week.

The Vikings need to do a good job on kickoff coverage against league leader Jaylen Wright (37 yard average) but Wright may be the starting running back which could limit his return duty. Riley Patterson is only 5 of 7 on field goals so the edge goes to Reichard.

10. Get back to limiting penalties: the Vikings had nine for 95 yards in Tampa (with a flag-happy officiating crew) after only three penalties in each of the first two games.  

11. Crowd noise rattle young Miami team: look for plenty of false starts by Miami and the Vikings pass rushers getting a good jump with the home crowd a factor.

Prediction

The Dolphins are probably the worst team in league. They have lost their first three games by an average of 16.7 point per game. Willis has never faced the Vikings defense as a starter and he’s in for a tough day battling the blitzing D and the crowd noise with the fans excited about the undefeated start.

The Vikings need to jump in front early and not let the Dolphins hang around as the Chiefs did last week (14-10 K.C. entering the fourth quarter and the Chiefs went on to win 24-10). All four teams Miami has faced are 3-0 entering Week 4. As bad as the Dolphins are, it’s the old “on any given Sunday” NFL rule that a heavy favorite (10 ½ points for the Vikings this week) can never relax against a seemingly inferior opponent as every team has professional players.

I think Murray will make enough big plays to Addison and Hockenson with Jones having a solid game and the defense will sack Willis five times and force a couple turnovers including one for a TD on a fumble or interception return. I’ve got the Vikings winning 27-13 to stay unbeaten and atop the NFC North.  

Around the NFL in Week 4

1. In the NFC North, the 2-1 Bears should handle the 1-2 Jets at home with Case Keenum or Tyson Bagent at QB (as Caleb Williams remains sidelined with his hamstring injury from the Vikings game).

The 1-2 Packers travel to winless Tampa Bay to face undrafted rookie QB Jalon Daniels with Baker Mayfield out (dislocated thumb). As beat up as the Packers are on the O-line and still missing Micah Parsons on D, they’ll beat the Bucs. The 2-1 Lions are at 1-2 Carolina on Sunday night in what should be a shootout (two top 10 offenses vs. two low-ranked defenses). I pick the Lions to get the road win.

2. In other big games in an exciting Week 4, I think 3-0 Buffalo puts a stranglehold on the AFC East by thumping 1-2 New England with Josh Allen outplaying struggling Drake Maye (six picks already after eight in the 2025 regular season when he led the league in passer rating).

Jacksonville at Cincinnati should be an entertaining game between 2-1 teams. I like the Bengals at home. I pick the 1-2 Rams over the 2-1 Eagles with star WR Puka Nacua expected back (and the Eagles have issues after getting whipped by the Bears last week).

The Chiefs meet the Raiders in a battle of unbeatens in Vegas. I think Patrick Mahomes and Company will bring the Kirk Cousins-led Raiders back to earth. I’m picking 2-1 Denver to upset the 3-0 49ers in Santa Clara.   

The Vikings opponent next week—the Saints—are my pick to beat the Falcons in the Big Easy on Monday night and get back to .500 ahead of the Purple coming to town.