Why was Brian Flores fired by the Miami Dolphins?
Brian Flores is taking on the entire NFL with his recently filed lawsuit. The former Miami Dolphins coach claims he has faced racial discrimination in multiple interviews, among many other shocking allegations brought forward.
One of the most notable claims has to do with the free agent head coach stating Dolphins owner Stephen Ross tried to bribe him into losing games. The former head coach said Ross offered him $100,000 to tank during the 2019 season.
Brian Flores on #Dolphins owner Stephen Ross asking him to tank in 2019: "That was a conversation about not doing as much as we needed to do to win football games. 'Take a flight. Go on vacations. I'll give you $100K per loss.' Those are just the exact words."
Flores, as we are now led to believe, denied this request and led the team to a five-win season in 2019. That saw the team pick fifth overall in the NFL draft, selecting Tua Tagovailoa. It's important to remember that Justin Herbert was still on the board at the time and was taken one pick later at No. 6.
It appears that with Flores going against Ross' wishes, the former ultimately tanked the relationship from the start. The head coach getting fired after back-to-back winning seasons proved there was nothing he could have done to save his job.
Brian Flores' head coaching record
He had an overall record of 24-25 with the Dolphins in three seasons. It can now be argued that his 5-11 record with the team in 2019 is arguably the reason he is out of a job now. Yet if one is to subscribe to revisionist history from Ross' perspective, Miami would have been better served emulating the Cincinnati Bengals' season. Cincinnati went 2-14 that year to land budding superstar Joe Burrow.
This raises the question, was the newly appointed head coach Flores supposed to show up in 2019 to a new team and orchestrate a dismal losing season in which they won one game?
Flores, rebounded in his second season in Miami and went 10-6 in 2020, followed by a 9-8 mark in 2021. However, soon after the team missed out on the playoffs, the Dolphins let him go. They officially cited how Flores struggled to form proper relationships in the building and thus he was fired, a move that came as a shock to many.
On the surface, it all appears to be rather shady, to say the least. Now, with Flores' lawsuit, the door might be blown wide open on other instances where similarly unsavory practices may have taken place throughout the league.
JUST NOW:
@JohnBerman: "Did Ross, to you, explicitly say to you personally, I'll give you $100,000 each game you lose?"
Brian Flores: "Yes, yes, he did, absolutely. That's not something you make up." https://t.co/Ltm1AJ6g2y
Flores' record as a head coach still leaves him as one of the candidates still available on the market. In recent times he has been linked to both the New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans. The only question now is how other NFL owners will respond to this lawsuit.
Even if Flores doesn't land a head coaching job, he should be able to find work on an NFL coaching staff somewhere. Teams are, or so we thought, desperate to land a coach with winning experience. His five wins in 2019 are even more impressive now that we know the alleged pressure he faced from ownership to lose.
This entire situation has the potential to be a catalyst for monumental change in the NFL, or at least that is the hope. We are witnessing a fired head coach taking on the entire NFL, and not without merit. He has receipts and just like with his game preparation, he came prepared again to shine a light on the injustices taking place in the game he and so many love.
Also Read: "This is bigger than me, bigger than football" - Brian Flores opens up on race lawsuit against NFL, Giants