Brian Flores - Head Coach, vikings Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-15 | Full transcript (primary source).
Brian Flores addressed the media during a press conference on September 15, 2026, following the Minnesota Vikings' recent victory in a divisional matchup. He discussed the team's performance, the challenges ahead against the Chicago Bears, and emphasized the importance of improvement in various aspects of their game as the season progresses.
Transcript
Flores: In the division, tough game, I think the pack was doing a lot of really good things. I think they had a great game plan. Matt had a great game plan, they made a lot of plays. Gotta give him credit for that. I think this Jordan Love's one of the best QBs in our league. He stood in there and made a lot of big time throws, so. And there's a lot of corrections on the tape for us. It's great to kind of start slow and then make some adjustments, and make one or two more plays than they did. And come out of there with a win in the division. So excited about that, but also turning the page to Chicago, who will get another major challenge. Great quarterback, great play caller, and just skilled players all over the place, good old line. So this would certainly be a challenge, and we're looking forward to it. And just try to string together good days, good practices, good walkthroughs, good meetings, and let's call it one through first four, five, six weeks of the season about improvement. And that was a message to our guys yesterday, improvement, techniques, fundamentals, communication, and as coaches, what's the best grouping? What are the things we do best? The best group of groups of players that are out on the field, who plays well with who, and so that's part of the first few weeks of the season. And we're working through that as a staff right now. But we'll continue to work through that as we get a couple more games under our belt, but excited to get the season started. It was definitely rocking at the bank, that was fun too.
Reporter: Brian, when you talk about improvement, how much of it with this defense, where there is so much communication, it's just guys getting used to new roles, or kind of figuring out how to see things the same way early in the season?
Flores: Yeah, I mean, that's a big part of it. Just our overall communication, things happening fast on the field. There's no way to really mimic a game like speed and communication. Intensity in a practice setting, we try as best we can. And so, yeah, getting that communication out in a game situation. I think there's a little bit of, man, that's how fast we got to get it out. But especially with some of the younger players, but even some of our veteran guys, you run into some of those issues with the crowd noise, and that definitely takes some getting used to. We certainly need some improvement in that area, something we talked about. We'll continue to talk about, but this starts with communication, really across the board, and that's not just this system. That's all over the league and any level of football. So our guys know that, but it's communication, it's techniques, it's fundamentals. It's just overall playing team defense, one play at a time. And we're just going to continue to try to get better in those areas.
Reporter: How do you describe the in-game chess match with this play caller?
Flores: Yeah, I mean, I think it's, there's a chess match every week. We just had that with another one of the top play callers and Matt. So every week it's a challenge, Ben's certainly a challenge. I mean, any type of offense that's out there, whether it's ground and pound, whether it's run and shoot, whether it's RPO, whether it's four by one, he's got it. And so what are we getting week to week? It's hard to know. And so a lot of the game is adjustments. Hey, if they do this, we want to do that. If they do that, we want to do this. And we're going to have our own game plan to start things off. And it's the same thing on his end. What are they doing? And how are we going to counteract what they're doing? So it's certainly a chess match. And one of the things I love about coaching defense in this division, I'm really in the NFC, whether it's Ben or LeFlore, obviously KO on a daily basis. And so it's a lot of fun. And it's a major challenge. And that's what we all signed up for.
Reporter: Brian, what did you see from Dallas Turner that worked in this game that he can carry over going forward?
Flores: Yeah, I think Dallas, he's obviously made steady improvements really day to day, week to week. He played fast. He was physical. He was aggressive. I think he's confident. And he was disruptive in the game, very disruptive in the game. And we need him to be disruptive. But just to play with that confidence, just to play with that speed, that intensity, wasn't reckless at all. It was just controlled aggression. And he played well. And hopefully, we'll continue on that trajectory. But he's also practiced very well. He asked me last week, hey, how am I practicing? So you're practicing like you're the right way, like you're going to make some plays. And so hopefully, we continue. I mean, I'm glad we had that conversation. It was a quick, just him asking, is there anything else I can do? But I think you're doing all the right things. And I expect it to show up. And I think if he continues to do that, continues to meet, walk through, and practice a certain way, then he puts himself in best position to have success on the field. And that's really the message to everyone.
Reporter: Has he always sought that feedback? Or is that something that's new?
Flores: Absolutely. And so I mean, Kev, you're asking if it's been an issue. It hasn't. This is just a player trying to get better. And so we have several guys who are asking, now, what else can I do to make myself a little bit better, to prepare myself a little bit better? And that type of urgency is what you're looking for out of all of our guys. And I don't mind sharing that just because it's certainly not a negative. More, if anything, it's shedding a positive light on his attention to detail, urgency to be as good a player as he can be. And it showed up positively last week. But every week's a new week. And so we've got to start over and prepare the right way. And I think he'll do those things.
Reporter: Dominique Warren just credited on that fourth and one stop just what stood out to you about his first full professional game?
Flores: That was obviously a huge play in the game. He started to his left. He was there. He made the play, stopped him short. And really, it was the technique and the fundamentals and handling his responsibility on that particular play, which put him in position to make the stop. I think he well came over the top as well. We had some other guys get involved on that one. Huge play in the game. And I think it's kind of a testament to just playing team defense, handling your responsibility. We put him in there. He's a big, strong, physical guy. If we need knockback in that type of situation, that's where we want him. And I thought he did a nice job of getting that done.
Reporter: Brian, Ben Johnson has had so much success, whether it's Detroit or Chicago, in running the football. And last week, they go for almost 300 yards. What is it about the way that he coaches that scheme that allows them to have success, no matter where he's been?
Flores: Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing is that all 11 guys are involved. The receivers are blocking, the tight ends. Obviously, the offensive line. The quarterback's part of it as far as getting the run, going in the right direction, wherever that happens to be, based on front shell coverage versus post-safety cards. There's a lot of different variables. And in some systems, it's, hey, we always do this. We always do that. And this particular one, it can go, but it seems like, based on my interpretation of it and watching it, this could go a few different ways and based on a few different things. So I think that's part of it. There's obviously detail and great techniques and fundamentals. And they got good backs. That always helps. And so they do a great job. There's shifts, there's motions, a lot of eye candy. It's everything that could potentially give a defense problems. They do. And when you couple that with good backs and then you got good receivers, and if you play one high, they may, you know, you got one of ones in a perimeter. Do you want that? You want to bring them down? If you bring them down, you know what I mean? This game, you're playing the entire game with the play caller and really with their team. And I think, you know, this being year two, I think that they understand exactly what they're trying to get done, what they're trying to get accomplished. And so there's better execution, at least through one game. So again, great, big, big challenge for us. We're going to have to do a great job really across the board, starting with a great week of preparation and try to put ourselves in a position to handle the run game, handle the pass game, handle the quarterback, you know, who's an up and coming superstar, not even up and coming. He is a superstar in our league. And, you know, we talk about the run game, but there's a lot of issues in the pass game as well. So again, big, big challenge.
Reporter: You continue to sort of ramp up for Harrison Smith, did you see anything in the game the other day that suggests that he's ready for a bigger portion of it?
Flores: You know, I think we'll take that day today. You know, as we put together the game plan, you know, we're kind of just starting, not just starting, but, you know, we've been through kind of the early down portion of it and we'll get into, you know, more of the second and long third down, you know, this afternoon, this evening. You know, as we start to talk about it, you know, that's when a lot of the play time starts to come alive. You know, who do we want in this spot? Who do we want in this spot? Who do we want in this spot? How much of this are we doing? So that's, so I really can't answer that right now. But it was a great first week for him. Yeah, was it 10 days ago? I don't even know if it was 10 days, you know, he signed something like that. And so to go in and play, honestly, I don't even know how many snaps he played, but to go in and play and, you know, two minutes situation and third downs and make some plays, I thought it was a good showing. I certainly couldn't go out there and play a game coming off the street. You know, maybe you could have a game, maybe. I certainly couldn't. You too, Kev. I'm not saying you out like you can't even do it, sorry. But I thought it was great that he, you know, looked good, ran pretty well. And, you know, as we go, you know, you just assume he'll get in better shape and, you know, be ready for more snaps. But we'll take that kind of day to day and see where we're at.
Reporter: You mentioned Dominique Orange. With the rookies in general, and because what did you think of the first time out, then what's the step like in the first two games for them? The larger rules?
Flores: Yeah, I think there's always, I think every game's a little bit different. So there's a plan to, you know, do this, this, this, this, we'll get this guy in here, this guy's getting here. And then, you know, we're gonna go down, we're gonna go down with our best players. You know, that's kind of my mantra or something that I believe in. And so, you know, we have plans for a goal day to get in and for Chuck D to get in. And, you know, those plans kind of went awry based on how the game went. Those guys are still practicing, you know, at a level that we feel is, would allow them to get in the game and play. And so we'll try to get them in. But, you know, when you're in the moment, it's kind of like, ah, you know. And so, not that we don't have confidence in those guys we do, but, you know, it just doesn't work out sometimes. But, you know, those guys are up. If they're up, you know, we've got to roll for them or we've got to plan normally to play them. You know, I think, you know, the young guys who did go in there and play a little bit, you know, did well and we'll continue to just work with them, you know, help them grow, get them a few more snaps, get them more comfortable. But we're always gonna try to put the very best out there. I think that's our job, you know. I think it's, we owe that to, you know, the team, the organization, the fans. So that's just my belief on it.
Reporter: Brian, Kevin talked a little bit yesterday about just sticking to the run as a play caller. What does that do for the defense when the offense is willing to kind of, I guess, put its trust in the defense sometimes?
Flores: I mean, sticking to the run, yeah. The time of possession. What does that do for you guys on the other side of the ball?
Flores: Yeah, I mean, I mean, nobody likes to see us running the ball more. I mean, I'm sure they do, but I mean, I love it when we're running it and JP and you know, and AJ are running the ball and posing their will on the opposing group. And yeah, from a time of possession standpoint, all of that is great. But, you know, any way we can get first downs and keep the ball and get the ball down the field and score, you know, we're all for it. And if that's through the run through the pass, you know, I'm excited about all of it. But yeah, there is a, you know, physicality as far as, you know, trying to run the ball and winning that battle, which is a battle week to week. So yeah, I love it when they run it.
Flores: All right guys, thank you.
Flores: Thank you guys.
