Steelers And Mike Tomlin Can’t Afford To Let Brian Flores Exit After 1 Season

Flores has elicited serious interest from the Arizona Cardinals about their head coaching job and if he leaves the Steelers to accept that position, then the organization and fans should be happy and wish him well. Flores has also drawn interest from the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings for the defensive coordinator position. If he accepts either of those jobs, the organization has made a big mistake and the fans should be outraged.

This is not a direct criticism of Teryl Austin. He lost TJ Watt in game one of his tenure and it stunted the growth of the defense. The highest-paid defense in the NFL with Watt gave up 16 points per game, without Watt it was closer to 25. Austin did improve the defense from 2021, but it really boils down to the options available in the toolbox for the Steelers.

Austin has proven to be an adequate coordinator. He is not going to hurt the Steelers going forward, but he isn’t a dynamic defensive mind. Austin fits the mold of a typical Tomlin staff hire. He has done good things in the NFL as a coordinator, but Austin was also fired by the Cincinnati Bengals after one season.

Flores learned his trade at the feet of Bill Belichick and spent a decade coaching special teams, linebackers, and defensive backs. Belichick didn’t get a chance to promote him to defensive coordinator before he was plucked like many others from the New England Patriots staff and given the job of turning around the Miami Dolphins.

Flores was 24-25 as a head coach, but showcased his brilliant ability as a technician when he reduced Lamar Jackson and the heavily favored Baltimore Ravens to rubble in front of a national audience. The Dolphins were 2-7 at the time, but after the 22-10 victory over the Ravens, he finished the season at 9-8. Flores might not have been popular with the front office, but he was effective.

Steelers’ Brian Flores Was The “Puppeteer” Behind Kenny Pickett’s Critical Week 9 Turn Around

The Steelers elected to retain Matt Canada for the sake of continuity and while no one outside of the Steelers front office agrees with that decision, this one is more important. The Steelers have Flores on staff and simply cannot let him take a coordinator job somewhere else. Tomlin has promoted from within his staff for almost as long as his playoff win drought. Loyalty is a fine thing in professional sports, but not at the expense of competency.

Letting Flores walk for a coordinator position would be football malpractice on the part of the Steelers organization. Tomlin was lauded for reaching out to Flores and hiring him quickly as a way to announce to the NFL that Pittsburgh refused to let him be blacklisted by the NFL. He has a strong personality and a unique perspective on defense. If Tomlin lets him leave to be a coordinator, it will amount to little more than a photo op for Pittsburgh.

Are the Steelers going to be content to watch Flores move on to a coordinator position and revamp a different, less talented defense and use it as a springboard to get a head coaching job? The Steelers have elite defenders and it would be exciting to see what he could do with the most talent he was ever handed on defense. The standard in Pittsburgh that was set long ago, is the best man gets the job no matter who he is or what position he plays.

It doesn’t look like Flores will get that same chance in Pittsburgh, but the organization will probably get a very nice frame for that picture. It’s one thing to retain the wrong staff members, it’s quite another to let the good ones walk away.