Houston Texans: Pros, Cons of hiring Brian Flores or Lovie Smith

Brian Flores still remains the best head coaching option on the market

Pros

Brian Flores has been through a lot in his head coaching career and also carries over a ton of experience from being a part of the New England Patriots organization for 15 seasons. Those four Super Bowl rings and the knowledge of working with Bill Belichick make for an impressive resume.

When Flores was hired in Miami, they had one of the worst teams the season before his arrival. However, Flores had a strong finish to his first season, going 3-2 in the final month of play and knocking the New England Patriots out of a first-round bye. It also gave us this glorious simultaneous call from Kevin Harlan (who deserves to call a Super Bowl on TV).

It’s a big reason why Kansas City went on to win Super Bowl LIV that season with the home-field advantage.

Flores then parlayed that late-season success from 2019 into 2020, where the 10-win Dolphins were win-and-get-in in Week 17 (that didn’t happen). A nine-win season in 2021 despite starting the season 1-7 shows that Flores can rescue a team from the depths of disaster and give them a chance to make the playoffs.

It was the first time the Dolphins had back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the early 2000s.

Cons

Flores has been described as “abrasive.” That may be why his relationship with Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross soured so much. The reports that Ross allegedly offered $100K per loss to tank the Dolphins’ season in 2019 would definitely be something that would cause conflict.

Flores also has an alleged history of disagreeing with draft picks. According to reports, Flores was not the biggest believer in quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and wanted to draft Justin Herbert instead. This boiled over in their late-season loss to the Tennessee Titans this year, when Flores got in a screaming match with Tagovailoa mid-game.

As a result of this, Flores was unhappy and reportedly didn’t speak much to the rest of his staffers from Thanksgiving onwards to the end of the season.

Regardless of whosever side of the story that you’re on, it’s clear to see that was not an ideal situation to be in.