On Black Monday in the NFL, few firings are surprising.
Brian Flores’ was surprising.
While the canning of Matt Nagy (Chicago Bears) and Mike Zimmer (Minnesota Vikings) could have been seen from miles away, the Flores one was shocking. He had taken an awful Miami Dolphins team three years ago and helped move them from the bottom of the league to one that gave some playoff teams a really hard time this season while only narrowly missing the playoffs.
But that couldn’t spare Flores’ fate, as the team decided to cut ties with him Monday.
“I want to thank the Miami Dolphins organization for the opportunity to be the head coach of this team for the last three seasons,” Flores said in a statement to ESPN. “It was an honor to represent the franchise and lead this group of men. I am grateful most of all for the players, coaches and support staff who gave everything they had on a daily basis to help us win games. They deserve the credit for any successes on the field, and it was the honor of a lifetime for me to go to work with them every day.
“I have always believed that leadership is really about service, and I did my best to serve the players, the staff and the organization every day. I believe in this team and will always value the relationships my family and I made here.”
As for who will replace Flores, that’s not entirely clear. Conventional wisdom says Jim Harbaugh will be on the list, but that does not appear to be their plan.
