The Pittsburgh Steelers are on the cusp of hiring a new head coach to lead their franchise, and list of candidates is slowly dwindling. While Chris Shula remains a steady favorite, former Steelers senior defensive assistant and current Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is still in the running.
Flores runs perhaps the truest 3-4 defense currently in the NFL, and with a league-high 44.3 percent blitz rate, per Pro Football Reference, his defense would put the 'blitz' back in 'Blitzburgh'.
But the latest comments on Flores could force the Steelers to take a step back and re-evaluate the situation.
On Friday, Adam "the Bull" Gerstenhaber from the Ultimate Cleveland Guardians Show sat down with former Minnesota Vikings assistant head coach and outside linebacker coach Mike Pettine. When the topic of Brian Flores was brought up for a potential head coach candidate, Pettine was asked what he thought of Flores, and the ex-Vikings coach held his tongue.
"Uh, probably not many that I would prefer to share... I mean, we didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, and that's why I spent this past year on offense... I'll take the high road on that one."
The Pittsburgh Steelers should consider these Brian Flores comments before making a head coach decision
Mike Pettine is someone who worked closely with Brian Flores for the past three years, so the fact that he wasn't able to put on a pretend face and muster up something kind to say about Flores is concerning.
Pettine clearly didn't get along well with the Vikings ' defensive coordinator. And it makes you wonder if the Steelers would run into the same issues with Flores in Pittsburgh.
For what it's worth, Flores already had a brief stay with the organization. In 2022, immediately after losing his head coaching job with the Miami Dolphins, Flores joined the team for one season as a senior defensive assistant and linebacker coach. Though there were no reported issues with Flores, that's not to say they couldn't have been had he stayed longer.
Most of us are old enough to remember former Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Despite the success he brought to the team, he butted heads with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, and there were multiple reports that he wasn't the easiest to get along with.
Would the Steelers be setting themselves up for a similar situation with Flores?
Perhaps Pettine is the only former or current Vikings coach who feels this way about Flores, but his comments (or rather lack thereof) resonate. This is something the Pittsburgh Steelers should weigh if they are considering naming Brian Flores as their next head coach.