The dust has settled on the 2023 regular season, and it’s quickly become as chaotic as ever across the NFL.
Black Monday and the days after weren’t just for hot-seat candidates like Arthur Smith or Ron Rivera. The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots also moved on from NFL coaching legends Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick. Up is down, white is black, and Matt Eberflus is somehow still gainfully employed. The NFL feels like a Twilight Zone episode.
Throughout all this insanity, Minnesota Vikings fans have winced at every new head coaching position that becomes available. There are only so many experienced, qualified candidates with a proven track record of winning. Unfortunately, Minnesota’s defensive coordinator is one of them.
Watching what Brian Flores implemented in one short season was astounding. He was engineering a scheme unlike anything we’d seen before, overcoming personnel deficiencies and transforming this defense. He took an impotent, passive, bend-and-break defense near the bottom of the league in almost every statistical category and made them competitive. And he did so by utilizing the skillsets of the different talents on this roster in ways that would allow their talent to shine.
Case in point: I’m not sure there’s a single Vikings defender who wants to retain his defensive coordinator more than safety Cam Bynum.
Last week, I wrote about how the emergence of a young star like Jordan Addison is so important that it makes up for what ultimately looks like a lost season. On the defensive side, Cam Bynum is my guy.
Coming into this season, the expectations for Bynum were largely what we’d seen in years prior. He looked uneven at best and like a mediocre, replacement-level starter at worst. But Bynum drastically exceeded expectations under Flores. He was arguably Minnesota’s most consistent defensive back throughout the year. The former college cornerback turned safety finally began to play like one. He reached a comfort level in his assignments and confidence as a tackler like we’d never seen before. And with that comes the difficult assignment of being the last line of defense in such a blitz-heavy scheme.
Throughout Bynum’s career, we’d seen glimpses of the athleticism that made him an intriguing draft pick out of Cal. But Bynum’s lack of physicality as a tackler marred those flashes of athleticism. He lacked the killer instinct needed to close on the ball and make a play. Instead, Bynum simply lived to play another down. Flores’s aggression and confidence must’ve rubbed off on Bynum. He consistently broke on the ball with newfound confidence and moxie, unlike anything we’d seen before in his career.
To build off of its success in 2023, Minnesota’s defense must get better play out of its secondary. The Vikings have few established veterans on the back end, especially as franchise legend Harrison Smith ponders retirement. Outside of Bynum, Minnesota can pencil Josh Metellus in as an important role player in the safety/hybrid linebacker in Flores’ three-safety looks. Uncertainty abounds at corner for pretty much everyone not named Byron Murphy, who was far from perfect in 2023.
The Flores defense demands a lot from the safety position, and Bynum grew under that pressure. Minnesota’s defense has plenty of holes to fill this offseason, but Bynum’s spot isn’t one of them. His emergence this year gives this front office the confidence to focus on the rest of the roster. It also provides Flores with an essential ingredient as he concocts whatever insane iteration of his defense could be next year.
Brian Flores won’t be in Minnesota forever; he’s too good at what he does. Whatever off-field drama allowed him to slip down the coaching carousel into our laps becomes less relevant by the day. But every moment he spends in purple will be a gift to this organization. His ability to develop young players like Bynum could be the difference in getting this team back to competing at an elite level.
Let’s all join Cam and the rest of the Minnesota defense in praying that the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee Titans, Washington Commanders, New England Patriots, and Seattle Seahawks decide Flores is simply too cool to be their head coach. We need to see him work his magic again for one more year.
