Vikings ink DC Brian Flores to contract extension: What it means

The Minnesota Vikings are keeping around a key member of their coaching staff – for now.

Brian Flores has signed an extension to stay with the Vikings as their defensive coordinator, the team announced on Jan. 21.

Flores is still a candidate to fill the Pittsburgh Steelers’ and Baltimore Ravens’ head coaching vacancies, and his new contract extension does not preclude him from taking a job as either team’s head coach. If the Steelers, Ravens or another team hires Flores as head coach, Minnesota would need to find a new defensive coordinator.

Flores, 44, joined Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell’s staff as defensive coordinator before the 2023 season. His contract with Minnesota expired at the end of the 2025 season, allowing him to sign on as a defensive coordinator with any other team. Instead, he’s sticking around with the Vikings on a new contract extension unless he finds a head coaching job elsewhere.

The length of Flores’ new deal in Minnesota has not yet been reported.

Over Flores’ first three seasons as Minnesota’s defensive coordinator, the Vikings’ defense grew into one of the league’s best units. Minnesota went from ranking 30th in points allowed per game in 2022 (25.1) to 14th in Flores’ first season in 2023 (21.3), fifth in 2024 (19.5) and seventh (19.6) in 2025.

The Vikings also finished the 2025 season third in expected points added (EPA) per play allowed (-0.087) and sixth in success rate allowed (41.6%).

Minnesota’s pass defense was a particular strength in 2025, as Flores’ unit finished second in the NFL with an average of 158.5 passing yards allowed per game. According to an official press release from the Vikings, that mark was the lowest by a Minnesota defense in a season since 1989 (156.3).

Three Vikings defenders earned Pro Bowl nods for the first time in 2025 under Flores’ watch: cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. and outside linebackers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel.