Mike Tomlin felt a certain obligation toward Brian Flores when he hired him in 2022 on his Pittsburgh Steelers staff. He gave him the title of senior defensive assistant, having been fired as head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Tomlin felt teams were not giving him a fair chance due to the pending lawsuit he has against the NFL.
And in just that short amount of time, Tomlin’s influence on Flores is apparent. We know that through Dean Lowry, now a member of the Steelers, who played under Flores last year as defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings. He talked about it this past week with reporters via Dale Lolley for the team’s website.
“I think the terminology is similar that he kind of brought from here”, Lowry said, according to Dale Lolley. “I would say philosophy-wise, you can see he learned a lot from Coach Tomlin here. A lot of the things coach Tomlin teaches that we go over every single day are things that coach [Flores] brought to Minnesota”.
Brian Flores grew up in the New England Patriots coaching tree under Bill Belichick. He started out in scouting and did everything from special teams assistant to linebackers coach. The Dolphins hired him in 2019, where he had a reasonably successful three seasons, his firing taking people by surprise.
Subsequently, he filed a lawsuit taking aim at the league’s hiring practices, including non-compliance or lip service to the Rooney Rule, and suddenly, he attracted much less attention as one of the most attractive head coaching candidates on the market. That’s when Mike Tomlin stepped in and offered him a job.
Flores did have an impact on the Steelers’ defense, and many wanted him to stay on as defensive coordinator. He still failed to find another head coaching job in 2023 and again in 2024, remaining as coordinator in Minnesota. Mike Tomlin served in that same post in 2006 just before the Steelers hired him as head coach in 2007.
Still, how much influence could Tomlin have really had on Flores during that one season? The man spent over a decade learning the craft from Bill Belichick. Then again, he never held a formal coordinating job before joining the Steelers. He went right from position coach to head coach after leaving New England for Pittsburgh.
From that perspective, it’s reasonable to assume that Flores had something to learn about his current job in Pittsburgh. And it’s not just Tomlin. Let’s make that very clear. The defense in structure hasn’t changed greatly, even from Dick LeBeau’s time. Tomlin slowly put his stamp on it, but Keith Butler and Teryl Austin inherited the same machinery.
By and large, it is Tomlin’s updates on what was already in place, made for the modern NFL. That includes less dropping by the edge rushers and more rushing from the interior defensive line. There is more versatility in the secondary, a necessity in today’s game. But why wouldn’t Flores take advantage of that time and use it to learn something? You can make your snide remarks about Tomlin if you want, but those in the league respect his game.
