The Detroit Lions were officialy eliminated from the playoffs with their Week 17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Never one to hide where he is on most topics, head coach Dan Campbell promised a wide-ranging assessment of where things went wrong and how they can be rectified heading toward the 2026 season.
The broad question is how far that postseason assessment will go in terms of potential changes. The roster will of course change some, and there will be a new offensive coordinator after Campbell took play calling duties away from John Morton in the middle of the season.
But Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes have generally hesitated to do anything especially bold, with roster moves or coaching staff hires. This season's underachievement, ideally, will bring a shift in that mode at Allen Park.
The status quo is not good enough anymore.
Radio host offers bold idea for addition to Dan Campbell's staff
On Monday, in light of Campbell's comments about taking a look at everything after this disappointing season, Mike Valenti of 97.1 The Ticket extended the sentiment about a new Lions' offensive coordinator for 2026 to also replacing Kelvin Sheppard as defensive coordinator.
"Gotta have a conversation about Kelvin Sheppard. And this isn't an attack on Kelvin Sheppard. I think he did the best he could."
"But do you know who doesn't have contract next year? There's an elite defensive coordinator, who's got head coaching experience. Who would bring a new voice, new eyes, new approach. And he happens to be in your division."
After offering a very NSFW analogy about what happened in a recent game, Valenti named that candidate to replace Sheppard.
"Brian Flores is available...You want big boy things? You gotta do big boy stuff. Make him the highest-paid defensive coordinator in the league and hire him."
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Flores is of course the Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator. In two games against the Lions this season he systematically revealed every single flaw in the Detroit offense.
'Oh' we're gonna look at everything", Valenti said, again referring to what Campbell said after the Christmas Day loss to the Vikings. "This is what everything looks like."
Flores is in line to have multiple interviews for head coaching jobs when that circuit starts. If he doesn't get a head coaching job, it seems unlikely he will leave the Vikings for another defensive coordinator job. And the Vikings also won't let him make a lateral move, if he does consider it, without a fight.
None of the above regarding the Vikings, separate from his candidacy for head coaching jobs, should stop the Lions (or anyone else) from pursuing Flores until his situation is resolved.
The percentage chance Campbell can pry one of the elite defensive minds in the league from a division rival feels very low. But there is no barrier to trying as we look toward offseason changes for the Lions, and the idea of making Flores turn down an offer to come to Detroit is in play right now.