The Daily Briefing Thursday, February 3, 2022

NFC NORTH

CHICAGO

Adam Jahns of The Athletic on how the Bears came to hire the team of GM Ryan Poles and Coach Matt Eberflus:

Matt Eberflus called his 80-year-old mother, Joanne, and couldn’t get the words he wanted to share out completely. He was at home in Indiana; she was in Florida.

It was Thursday, Jan. 27.

“I said that you’re talking to the head football coach …” Eberflus said.

The rest wouldn’t come out.

“I got choked up,” he said.

For Eberflus, it was more than the emotions he felt. It was the culmination of his 30-year coaching career that started in 1992 as a student assistant at Toledo. A new era for him and his family was beginning. Later that night, Eberflus drove from his home in Indiana to Halas Hall in Lake Forest, Ill. His daughters, Grace and Giada, helped pack his suitcases and load his SUV.

“I never said it: ‘You’re talking to the head football coach of the Chicago Bears,’” Eberflus said. “I just got all emotional. Just all at once, it just kind of flooded over top of me. It was like going, ‘Oh, my!”

It’s a story Eberflus shared from the media room inside Halas Hall on Monday.

That day itself was the conclusion of a two-week process that started with Eberflus’ first interview with the Bears, included his blossoming connection with new general manager Ryan Poles and ended with him being formally introduced as the 17th coach in franchise history inside the George “Mugs” Halas Auditorium.

“It’s just surreal,” Eberflus said. “It’s really amazing, and I don’t take it lightly.”

Monday, Jan. 17

Eberflus needed help with his video setup in his home study. The internet connection is important. But there’s more. So he turned to his oldest daughter, Grace.

“She goes on Amazon and gets the lighting for me and all that stuff,” he said.

A ring light was used.

“You can change the lighting, so we did that and that was really good,” Eberflus said.

It was important to be seen as much as he would be heard by the Bears’ five-member search committee: chairman George McCaskey, president Ted Phillips, vice president of player engagement LaMar “Soup” Campbell, senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion Tanesha Wade and adviser Bill Polian.

“They were all in their own little windows,” Eberflus said.

At times, Polian would lead the conversation, but they all asked questions. Everyone was involved.

“It was three hours and some change,” he said.

Eberflus signed off from his interview feeling great about what had happened with the Bears, who also interviewed Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds that day. Eberflus was on the coaching candidates list created by Polian for the Bears’ simultaneous GM and coach searches.

“I was sitting on there, relaxed, having a conversation with George and Bill Polian,” Eberflus said. “That’s pretty good.”

Wednesday, Jan. 19

On Day 9 of the Bears’ coaching search, Eberflus emerged as their first finalist. Officially, he was the sixth of 10 interviews the Bears conducted, all by video, as part of the first round for head coach candidates. Doug Pederson, Brian Flores, Jim Caldwell, Nathanial Hackett and Brian Daboll came before him.

“A couple days later (after the first interview), they came back and said … ‘Let’s bring you in for a second interview,’” Eberflus said.

“That was good — exciting. That’s your main goal with the first interviews with the Zooms, you’re wanting to get the second one.”

He got it from two teams. A day earlier, news broke from the NFL Network that the Jaguars wanted to meet with Eberflus. It was scheduled for the weekend.

“Jacksonville was in person with their ownership and GM,” Eberflus said.

The Bears initially told Eberflus that his second interview at Halas Hall would be Monday or Tuesday of the following week. But the Bears’ plans for Eberflus changed after another candidate for general manager was interviewed. He would soon be pushed back to Wednesday.

Friday, Jan. 21

Ryan Poles’ first interview with the Bears, on video, lasted about three hours.

“They just shoot away with questions and get a feel for who you are,” he said.

The Bears’ process distinguished itself from Poles’ previous interviews. On Jan. 18, Poles met with the Vikings. A day after that, the Giants interviewed him a second time for their GM opening.

“I thought this one was a little different … with Bill Polian involved,” Poles said. “It was refreshing because it was a lot of football questions. Obviously, the makeup, what I’m about, philosophy, all of that stuff was covered by everybody.

“But I call it scout school. Like (Polian) went to scout school. What do you look for? What are the traits? What are the measurables? He went through all of that. I thought that was really refreshing.”

Poles had questions for Polian, the Hall of Fame executive and former GM of the Bills and Colts. He took his own notes.

“I think his message to me really was as a GM you’re going to be pulled in different directions,” Poles said, “but don’t ever forget you need to evaluate, so when you go to pick those players, you could be convicted about what you saw and you can challenge your guys in terms of their ability, and when you do that you can get to the truth a lot quicker.”

It felt right for Poles, who was interviewed on the same day as Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier.

“Thankfully, I’ve been brought up where all of that was very important,” he said, “so it came pretty natural, but it was refreshing to have that kind of style.”

The Bears’ search committee already was forming its list of potential coaching finalists. The input of their GM candidates was considered. Poles was the team’s 11th of what became 13 interviews for the GM opening. Poles submitted his own list. Eberflus was included.

“Yeah, that was an important consideration for us,” McCaskey said. “We wanted that partnership to be solid. That’s so important, for us to get the results that we want, for that partnership to work. … When Ryan mentioned that Matt was on his list, that was significant to us.”

Monday, Jan. 24

The day began with more interviews for the Bears. Their search was changing quickly, but they respected the process. As McCaskey said, they would be thorough, diligent and exhaustive.

Colts director of college scouting Morocco Brown and Steelers vice president of football and business administration Omar Khan were interviewed.

Throughout the process, the Bears often interviewed two candidates on the same day.

“Bill brought back two-a-days,” McCaskey joked. “I think one day we had three interviews in a day. That was a bit of a slog. But the important thing was to get as much information as possible, as quickly as possible, because once we saw the people that we wanted, we had to move quickly.”

The Bears’ day was busy, but what happened at night was more significant.

Poles was informed two days earlier, before the Chiefs’ wild and memorable 42-36 overtime win against the Bills, that the Bears wanted to interview him in person at Halas Hall.

“That game was crazy,” Poles said.

On Monday night, McCaskey drove from Lake Forest to Chicago to pick up Poles at O’Hare International Airport. He parked on the White Sox level of the parking garage.

“I wanted to show him that we care,” McCaskey said. “I wanted he and I to have the opportunity to speak one-on-one. And I wanted him to have the opportunity to see Halas Hall if he wanted, which he did.”

Car service was previously arranged to pick up Poles. But he appreciated McCaskey’s personal approach to his arrival in Chicago.

“He asked me, ‘Are you OK if I pick you up?’ just in terms of comfort level but also COVID as well,” Poles said. “And I said I would rather you pick me up. The one thing you learn is interview the person who is interviewing you to find out if it’s a fit or not. And I was pretty serious about that. If I got a bad feeling about something, I felt like I was at that point in my career that I’m at a really good place where I wouldn’t have just taken anything.”

Those feelings were cemented in the car ride with McCaskey. The Bears chairman drove his own four-door sedan.

“That showed me what kind of man he was,” he said. “It was good just to get to know him in a deeper level. A lot of these interviews go by so fast that you walk out like, ‘Did I really get enough? Do I know if I want to go work for that guy?’”

Poles wanted to work for McCaskey and the Bears.

Tuesday, Jan. 25

The Bears gave Eberflus travel options for his second interview. He chose to go the day before. He wanted to spend time going over his plans, messaging and more at the hotel provided to him.

It’s what he did when he called plays for the Colts defense, too.

“I would go to the hotel early on Saturday before the game,” Eberflus said. “A lot of guys don’t do that. But I’d get there early, so I’d go over (the opponent) one more time and study third down, red zone, two-minute and look at, ‘Hey, what’s the order …’ because when you’re calling plays on defense, you have to be able to snap them off. You can’t just say, ‘Well, I’m going to go to the wristband — 10.’

“And I don’t mean to be disparaging to offensive guys, but you literally get five seconds because you get the personnel and then you got to rip it. … As that reactionary play caller — that you only get a couple seconds — you have to know it and be on top of it. So that’s why I do it.”

That’s why he did it before his in-person meeting at Halas Hall.

“I wanted to get into a hotel by myself, review my notes to make sure I was clear and concise and compelling on what I wanted to say with the vision,” he said. “And it’s got to be something you can follow through on. It’s not just these grandiose ideas. You got to think about it and say how am I going to implement the plans. ‘What’ is important, but ‘how’ you’re going to implement is more important because as a head coach you have a visionary plan.”

Eberflus also found out who would be interviewing him that day. At first, he thought it would be the organization’s search committee. But Poles’ second interview that morning turned into an official job offer, which was accepted.

Poles hasn’t returned to Kansas City since. Poles asked a Chiefs staff member to empty his office and put his belongings in the trunk of his car, which was still at the team’s facility. The suit he was introduced in was the same one he interviewed in.

“I got one bag and one suit,” he said.

The search committee’s work was done.

“At the conclusion of Ryan’s second interview at Halas Hall, we went around the room and it was unanimous,” McCaskey said. “I was impressed with Ryan’s intelligence and confidence, his direct manner and his plan to bring the Bears back. In the end, it was an easy decision for me.”

That afternoon, Poles met with former Lions and Colts coach Jim Caldwell. An in-person interview with Titans director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort that was scheduled for the following afternoon with the search committee was canceled. A second interview with Dan Quinn, the Cowboys defensive coordinator and former Falcons coach, took its place.

Eberflus remained scheduled for the morning.

“I didn’t know how it was going to go,” he said. “Was it going to be the committee interviewing me or just Ryan? But I got word that it was going to just be Ryan. So I was happy with that.”

Wednesday, Jan. 26

Poles and Eberflus spent four hours together at Halas Hall — “It was a good, easy conversation, talking ball, talking about how you want to put a team together,” Eberflus said — but it wasn’t the first time they discussed such things.

“Before,” Eberflus said. “Before it even started. A year and a half before.”

Eberflus and Poles share the same agent — former Bears defensive end Trace Armstrong — but not all colleagues get along. Not all of them want to work together.

Eberflus and Poles researched each other and built their own connection. If Poles wanted to expand his coaching search, he could have. But he didn’t.

“You got to go back in terms of before I even came into this building,” Poles said. “You always are networking. You see what units play at a certain level and how they play their style. For me, it’s violence. I want to see violence and running to the ball and taking the ball away.

“So you start to find those people and then you give them a call and see how you’re connected. (You) give them a call and just get to know them at a deeper level. That’s kind of how that relationship starts.”

Minutes after Eberflus’ in-person interview concluded, Poles sat down with Quinn. Eberflus left for his home in Indiana. Later that night, Poles made a phone call. He felt his decision was made. But he needed further affirmation.

“I called someone that’s been in the league for a long time and highly successful and I just told him: ‘I just feel some type of way about this guy. There’s something different. And he has everything that I’m looking for,’” Poles said. “And that’s where you get confirmation, like you feel it. You know you’ve found your guy. There’s nothing wrong with pulling the trigger and being convicted about that.”

Thursday, Jan. 27

It was 9 a.m. in the Eberflus home and a decision was about to be made. Eberflus discussed what’s next with his wife, Kelly.

“When I found out I was the Bears coach, it was me and my wife,” Eberflus said. “Obviously, Jacksonville is in play. Chicago was in play. And you’re going, ‘A-OK, I need about 30 minutes.’ So I’m sitting down there with Kelly. … We looked at the options. And we said, ‘OK, I’ll go with Bears.’”

It became time to tell their daughters, Grace and Giada. Grace, his oldest, turns 22 soon.

“It’s 9 o’clock,” Eberflus said. “Of course, they’re sleeping. I would be, too, if I was that age.”

They gathered in Giada’s room. Kelly broke the news.

“Dad took the job! Dad took the job! He’s the head coach of the Bears.”

Eberflus called his mother next.

MINNESOTA

Jim Harbaugh flew into Minneapolis, met with the Vikings for nine hours, was never offered the job, and called Michigan and said he would never think about leaving Ann Arbor again.

The Vikings quickly pivoted to Rams OC Kevin O’Connell, a boy coach in the Sean McVay mold.

First, Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com on Harbaugh:

Jim Harbaugh called Michigan to inform the school that, despite interviewing with the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday, he will be returning to the school for the 2022 season, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Michigan was, in the words of one source, “elated” to get Harbaugh’s decision. Harbaugh told athletic director Warde Manuel that this would not be a recurring issue and that he would be staying at Michigan as long as the school wants him, sources said.

Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell has emerged as the favorite to become the head coach in Minnesota, sources told Schefter and ESPN’s Dan Graziano.

Harbaugh did not receive an offer from the Vikings before he left, a source told ESPN’s Courtney Cronin.

Harbaugh, 58, interviewed with the Vikings in Eagan, Minnesota, on college football’s national signing day. Michigan has the No. 8-ranked recruiting class, featuring seven ESPN 300 commits, many of whom had already signed their national letters of intent with the Wolverines during December’s early signing period.

Sources previously told ESPN that Harbaugh had been planning for his interview with Minnesota as if he was going to be hired by the Vikings and prepared his exit from the Wolverines’ football program by speaking with recruits about the possibility of his return to the NFL. Minnesota did not bring Harbaugh in on Wednesday with the notion that the job was his and went through the same interview process and format that the franchise conducted with New York Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham on Tuesday, sources said.

– – –

The Vikings reached out to Michigan last Saturday and received permission to speak with Harbaugh in an informal capacity. Harbaugh’s ties to new Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who worked in San Francisco with the former Niners coach from 2013 to 2014, carried considerable weight in Harbaugh becoming a candidate just days after the team hired its new GM. Sources previously told ESPN that Harbaugh was Adofo-Mensah’s top choice for the job.

Before Adofo-Mensah was hired last week, Minnesota conducted eight first-round interviews for its head-coach vacancy. O’Connell and Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris were both part of those initial interviews and met with the Vikings in person on Monday in Los Angeles.

Graham interviewed with the Vikings for the first time three days after Adofo-Mensah was hired. Graham’s second interview took place in person on Tuesday.

This on O’Connell from Ben Goessling of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

The Vikings plan to hire Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell to be the 10th head coach in the franchise’s 61-year history, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.

A deal with O’Connell cannot be completed until after Los Angeles plays the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl on Feb. 13. But the Vikings on Wednesday night had begun informing the other finalists in their coaching search they would not get the job, sources said.

The Vikings spent most of Wednesday interviewing Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh but never made him a job offer, a source with knowledge of the discussions said. According to multiple news media reports, Harbaugh has informed Michigan he is returning to the school.

The Vikings chose O’Connell, 36, after conducting a second interview in Los Angeles with him on Monday. The Vikings also had second interviews with Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris and Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.

O’Connell, a former quarterback, was Washington quarterbacks coach in 2017, Kirk Cousins’ final season as the starter there, and would figure to run a similar system in Minnesota to the one the Vikings first installed with Kevin Stefanski and Gary Kubiak in 2019.

O’Connell also worked with new Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in San Francisco in 2016, when the coach was on the 49ers staff doing special projects under Chip Kelly. Sources said Adofo-Mensah held O’Connell in high regard before he got the Vikings job, putting him on a list of coaches the GM wanted to work with, and O’Connell emerged as one of the favorites for the Vikings job as the team started its second round of interviews this week.

The Vikings will bank on the relationship between their 40-year-old general manager and their 36-year-old coach, as they try to refresh an organization that was rife with tension at the end of Mike Zimmer’s and Rick Spielman’s time together. Zimmer and Spielman were not on speaking terms toward the end of the 2021 season, and linebacker Eric Kendricks hinted at a desire for change after the Vikings fired both the coach and the GM on Jan. 10.

“I think just having that voice, no matter how big your role is, is important, to listen up and take each other’s feelings into account,” Kendricks said. “I don’t think a fear-based organization is the way to go.”

O’Connell was Washington’s offensive coordinator in 2019 and was hired for the same position with Rams in 2020. The Vikings’ search committee came away thrilled about how O’Connell would lead the team, a source said.

He will become the fourth former assistant of Rams head coach Sean McVay to get an NFL head coaching job. Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who will face the Rams in the Super Bowl, was McVay’s quarterbacks coach before Cincinnati hired him. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur had previously been McVay’s offensive coordinator, and Brandon Staley became the Chargers’ head coach last year after working as the Rams’ defensive coordinator.

Morris and Graham figure to stay with their current teams as defensive coordinators. Graham and Morris, who are Black, were the two coaches of color to hold in-person interviews with the Vikings. The team had planned a second interview with 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans this week, but he withdrew his name from the process.

Graham came to the Twin Cities for a nine-hour in-person interview on Tuesday, the same day former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit alleging systemic racism in the league’s hiring practices for coaches.

All four head coaches to get jobs in the 2022 hiring cycle are white; O’Connell would become the fifth. At the moment, there are only three minority head coaches in the NFL (the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin, the Jets’ Robert Saleh and the Commanders’ Ron Rivera). Adofo-Mensah, who became the first Black man in Vikings history to hold the GM title, is one of six GMs of color in the NFL.

This just in – deposed coach Mike Zimmer has a supermodel girlfriend. And she doesn’t like deposed GM Rick Speilman. Jordy McElroy of YahooSports.com:

Supermodel Katarina Elizabeth Miketin, who is reportedly dating former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, isn’t holding back when it comes to her opinion of former general manager Rick Spielman.

She backed up previous comments made by Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders that Zimmer and Spielman hadn’t spoken in months leading up to both men being fired by the Vikings organization. It was a mini bombshell that highlighted the dysfunction in the final days of the previous regime.

Spielman has been doing the rounds in recent days with multiple appearances and interviews. When appearing on FOX Sports’ The Herd, the former general manager talked about an offensive-minded coach having an easier time connecting with a quarterback than a defensive-minded coach.

Well, Miketin wasn’t having any of that conversation, and she took to social media to address Spielman personally.

“What about the GM having a relationship with the organization? Not talking to your coach for three months? Rick, Back-peddling and “spin” have always been your “game”. You should be embarrassed by your media blitz of, “it wasn’t my fault,” posted Miketin.

She went even further on her Instagram stories, via Awesemo.com, with more posts aimed in the direction of Spielman.

“I guess any org that hires him will know how he’ll act after he is fired,” Miketin said in one post.

“No respect for MN. Take responsibility,” she added in another post.

Before The Herd appearance, Miketin also called Spielman out as being the reason behind the rift of the relationship with Zimmer. During an appearance on Move the Sticks Podcast, the former GM talked about the difficulties he had adjusting with Zimmer going through at least six different offensive coordinators in his time with the team.

“It was constantly like a moving target all the time,” said Spielman.

Of course, Miketin doesn’t see it that way at all. She accused Spielman of gossip and insisted he “talk facts.”

“Rick, How can you build a team when you refuse to talk to the coach and don’t show up? You talk a lot to everyone else, just not the ones who mattered when the organization needed unity. YOU caused separation. Your gossip needs to stop. Let’s talk facts,” Miketin posted.

Regardless of who you side with in this situation, it’s clear things were beginning to get messy in Minnesota.

The Kwesi Adofo-Mensah era was long overdue.

AFC WEST

DENVER

The Broncos have made some key hires as detailed by Mike Klis of 9News.com:

The deals are done. Justin Outten is the Denver Broncos’ new offensive coordinator and Klint Kubiak is coming home to become the team’s new quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator, sources tell 9NEWS.

Both Kubiak and Outten formally interviewed with new Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett on Monday. The Broncos also interviewed Chargers’ tight end coach Kevin Koger for their offensive coordinator position that became available when Hackett informed Pat Shurmur last week he would not be retained.

Outten, 38, was Hackett’s tight ends coach the previous three years with the Green Bay Packers.

Rather than accompany the Packers’ coaching staff to the Pro Bowl this week in Las Vegas, Outten has stayed in the Denver-area since Monday and has already been working on the Broncos’ offense with Hackett.

Kubiak replaces Mike Shula as the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach. Kubiak’s father, Gary Kubiak, was also steeped in the West Coast offense as a top assistant to Mike Shanahan, first with the 49ers in the early 1990s, then with the Broncos from 1995-2005. Klint Kubiak was a five-year safety (he received a medical hardship after his first junior season) at Colorado State from 2005-09, then started his coaching career at the bottom level at Texas A&M in 2010. He was a Broncos offensive assistant from 2016-18, then became the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterbacks coach in 2019. He was promoted to offensive coordinator this past season.

Outten’s first NFL job came in the 2016 season with the Atlanta Falcons where he was an offensive intern under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.

The West Coast connections don’t stop there. Hackett is also hiring Butch Barry as his new offensive line coach, sources tell 9News. Hackett recently interviewed Barry, who was a senior analyst working alongside Hackett and Outten in Green Bay in 2020, then spent the past season as assistant offensive line coach for the 49ers. Barry was also an assistant offensive line coach for four seasons (2015-18) for Tampa Bay.

Chris Kuper, the Broncos’ assistant offensive line coach under Mike Munchak the previous three years, also interviewed for the Broncos’ head offensive line coach and also has deep roots in the West Coast system, starting as a Broncos guard from 2006-13, and then as an assistant line coach with the Dolphins (2016-18) and Broncos (2019-present). It’s not yet clear whether Kuper will return as Barry’s assistant.

Hackett is taking a little longer to fill out his defensive coaching staff, in part because, according to sources, the man he plans on hiring as defensive coordinator, Ejiro Evero, is preparing for Super Bowl 56 on Feb. 13 as the Rams’ defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator. Hackett also interviewed Ravens’ defensive line coach/run-game coordinator Anthony Weaver for

Outgoing Denver defensive coordinator Ed Donatell has drawn interest from Seattle and one other NFL team for a coaching position.

Among the candidates the Broncos have expressed interest in for special teams coordinator is Dwayne Stukes, who is currently the assistant special teams coordinator for the Rams. However, Stukes has drawn interest from multiple other teams. Former Broncos special teams coordinator Tom McMahon is among the several candidates for the same position with the Raiders. McMahon also interviewed with the Carolina Panthers.

Klis later tweeted the Evero was hired as the DC.

– – –

The DB thinks that of the accusations leveled by Brian Flores and his attorneys, the one that is reprehensibly weak is the one against the Broncos for at worst, if believed, a disinterested interview.

For the interview that Flores seems stunned would not have immediately resulted in his contract, the Broncos had five representatives fly into Providence, landing at 2:30 in the morning, for the 7:30 interview scheduled with Flores.

This is the same management team, we are reminded, that was seeking to replace a black coach, Vance Joseph, it had previously hired.

Chad Jensen of SI.com also mentions the fact that Flores spun a far different tail in the fall of 2020:

Shortly after the news of Flores’ lawsuit broke, 9NEWS’ Mike Klis published some of the coach’s remarks ahead of a Broncos-Dolphins game in Week 14 of the 2020 season in which he recounted his interview with Elway and Ellis with fond regard. Denver7’s Lionel Bienvenu published Flores’ full quote on Twitter.

“I remember it vividly,” Flores said on November 11, 2020. “Obviously, John Elway was there, Joe Ellis, [Chief Communications Officer) Patrick Smyth, [V.P. of Football Operations & Compliance] Mark Thewes, and my good buddy [then-V.P. of Player Personnel] Matt Russell. I know him personally from our days in New England in the personnel department. It was just great, for me—doing my own background work and learning more about the Denver Broncos and their history, the Bowlen family and the great history that they have there as an organization. I was excited to interview with them. I thought it went well. It was great to meet the executives there and spend some time with them. I think [former head coach] Vic [Fangio] is a great coach. They got the right coach and the right people in place. It’s a talented team, that’s for sure. It was a good experience for me personally.”

No doubt, the Broncos have copious notes and perhaps even videotaped conversations of the hiring committee’s view of Flores. Flores’ allegations will be difficult to prove in court, even if the Broncos had scant evidence to rebut his allegations.

On one hand, it would be easy to believe Flores’ accusation because it ostensibly contains at least one element of truth. Elway has a reputation as a drinker and has been captured on camera intoxicated by paparazzi in years past. It’s not that much of a leap to believe Elway could have been hungover during the Broncos’ interview meeting with Flores.

However, giving the Broncos the benefit of the doubt, the greatest lies are the ones that resonate due to the presence of one, single, solitary kernel of truth. That kernel can render what could be a complete fiction entirely believable.

Flores now says, “I deal in truth” as a rebuttal to the Broncos’ defense – and his own 2020 remarks.

AFC NORTH

PITTSBURGH

A Tweet from QB TOM BRADY on the retirement of QB BEN ROETHLISBERGER:

@TomBrady

Ben defied the TB12 Method in favor of the “Throw Some Ice On It” method his whole career, and ended up an all-time-great with 6 Pro-Bowls and 2 Super Bowls. There’s more than one way to bake a cake!

AFC EAST

MIAMI

Everyone the DB has spoken to about the allegations of a $100,000 per game bonus for losing games being promised by Stephen Ross has said some version of, “He’d better have more than just his word vs. that of Ross.”  Well, maybe he does:

NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe reported Wednesday that he spoke with a witness who said he heard Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offer former head coach Brian Flores $100,000 for every loss during the 2019 season.

Wolfe also reported that Flores’ team says it has evidence including messages from general manager Chris Grier that corroborate the allegations against Ross.

Flores, who is Black, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Manhattan federal court against the NFL and three of its teams, alleging a pattern of racist hiring practices by the league and other forms of racial discrimination. Included in the lawsuit was an allegation that Ross offered Flores money to lose games during the coach’s first season because he wanted the club to “tank” so it could get the top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, which was eventually used by the Cincinnati Bengals to select quarterback Joe Burrow.

“We are aware of the lawsuit through the media reports that came out this afternoon,” the Dolphins said in a statement Tuesday. “We vehemently deny any allegations of racial discrimination and are proud of the diversity and inclusion throughout our organization. The implication that we acted in a manner inconsistent with the integrity of the game is incorrect. We will be withholding further comment on the lawsuit at this time.”

Mike Florio is stunned that this report came from NFL.com:

It’s courageous for Wolfe to make this report. It’s courageous, or maybe not very bright (depending on the perspective), for his editors to give it the green light. Wolfe works for the NFL. Will the NFL insist that Wolfe reveal the name of the witness? Will Wolfe do so? What happens if he doesn’t?

Meanwhile, and as explained earlier today, Ross faces potential prosecution for violation of the Sports Bribery Act. It’s one thing for such a case to come down to Ross and Flores giving conflicting versions of the same conversation. If there’s corroboration of Flores’s version, a prosecutor becomes much more likely to pursue the case.

So, basically, Wolfe’s report — published on a platform partially owned by Ross — could result not only in Ross losing the Dolphins but also in Ross being prosecuted.

Although the lawsuit is without merit, the NFL will still investigate.  Mike Florio ofProFootballTalk.com:

On Tuesday, the NFL declared that the claims made by former Dolphins coach Brian Flores are without merit. On Wednesday, the NFL decided that at least one of the claims have sufficient merit to justify an investigation.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that the NFL “will investigate the specific allegations that Brian Flores has made concerning Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offering him $100,000 per-loss incentives in 2019 to gain a better draft position.” Other potential rules violations also will be investigated.

Earlier today, the NFL-owned media conglomerate reported that an unnamed witness has corroborated the claim by Flores that Ross made the financial offer. If the allegation is true, Ross should be forced to sell. He also could be prosecuted for violating the federal Sports Bribery Act.

The Dolphins took a while, but now they and Ross have denied.  Jace Evans of USA TODAY:

Ross responded with force in a statement released late Wednesday night.

“With regards to the allegations being made by Brian Flores, I am a man of honor and integrity and cannot let them stand without responding,” Ross wrote in the statement. “I take great personal exception to these malicious attacks, and the truth must be known. His allegations are false, malicious and defamatory.

“We understand there are media reports stating that the NFL intends to investigate his claims, and we will cooperate fully. I welcome that investigation and I am eager to defend my personal integrity, and the integrity and values of the entire Miami Dolphins organization, from these baseless, unfair and disparaging claims.”

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has pushed back against Brian Flores’ allegations.

Flores was surprisingly fired following the 2021 NFL season, which saw the Dolphins finish 9-8. The lawsuit states Flores was fired for “poor collaboration, which itself has discriminatory undertones.”

NEW ENGLAND

Robert Kraft was said to have had a “tantrum” when Tom Brady skipped over his two decades with the Patriots in his farewell Instagram, but Bill Belichick releases a nice tribute.  Mike Reiss of ESPN.com:

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick paid Tom Brady the highest compliment on Wednesday, a day after the quarterback announced his retirement.

Referring to Brady as the “ultimate competitor and winner,” Belichick said in a statement: “Tom’s humble beginning in professional football ultimately ended with him becoming the best player in NFL history.”

Belichick, who was traveling Tuesday when Brady announced his retirement, just completed his 47th consecutive year as an NFL coach, the most consecutive seasons in history. His appreciation for NFL history is well documented.

“Tom consistently performed at the highest level against competition that always made him the number one player to stop,” Belichick said in the statement. “His pursuit of excellence was inspirational. Tom was professional on and off the field, and carried himself with class, integrity and kindness. I thank Tom for his relentless pursuit of excellence and positive impact on me and the New England Patriots for 20 years.”

Brady later responded to Belichick’s statement via his Instagram story, writing, “Thank you Coach Belichick I appreciate being coached by you the Greatest Coach in NFL History,” followed by three heart emojis.

Belichick and Brady has often been under the spotlight, and Brady didn’t mention his former coach in his official retirement announcement Tuesday, nor did he mention Patriots owner Robert Kraft or the team’s fans.

Here is where the “tantrum” tale started.  Dakota Randall of NESN.com:

Be it an oversight or malicious intent on the part of Brady, Kraft apparently wasn’t happy about it. Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson on Tuesday claimed to have insight into Kraft’s reaction to Brady’s post.

“I was told earlier tonight that … it was an unpleasant day today at the executive offices in Foxboro and that Robert Kraft initially when he first heard the news was very upset,” Johnson said during Tuesday’s “Boston Sports Tonight” episode on NBC Sports Boston. “He was screaming and he was yelling and there was … a temper tantrum that he threw after he read this IG post. So, he was not happy about it in Foxboro, and I’m not surprised.”

THIS AND THAT

FLORES FALLOUT

The NFL immediately catergorized the allegations of former Dolphins coach Brian Flores as being “without merit” which seemed a bit overbroad to some like Mike Florio ofProFootballTalk.com:

In the hours after the filing of the Brian Flores lawsuit, the NFL issued its first word on the situation. Instead of declining comment, as the league did when it was sued last week over the relocation of the Chargers from San Diego, the league commented.

The comment ended with this assertion: ”We will defend against these claims, which are without merit.”

As Peter King noted on Twitter and as we discussed on Wednesday’s PFT Live, how can the league say that the claims are “without merit” on the same day they were made? Surely, it doesn’t know that already.

The statement was intended to send a message. The message is simple: “We will fight you over this.” This means that the league won’t, for example, perform an objective investigation or otherwise attempt to determine whether the claims have merit. It won’t try to see the situation from Flores’s perspective. It will deny, disclaim, and discredit. And it will attack, attack, and attack some more.

But what does the NFL gain from sending that message publicly? Why even add the premature editorial comment that the unexplored lawsuit is “without merit”?

For the rest of us, it’s useful to know which way the hot air is blowing. We now know that the NFL will, as it often does, reach a conclusion (i.e., “no one did anything wrong”) and work backward to prove it.

The better approach would have been to say something like this: “We take these matters seriously. We will investigate the claims fairly and thoroughly, and we will take any appropriate action.”

The fact that the NFL didn’t say this means, quite simply, that it won’t be acting that way, at all.

Andrew Brandt of SI.com breaks down the suit, which apparently seeks only to require the NFL to implement specific programs to benefit black coaching applicants without seeking monetary damages from the three teams portrayed as “racist” (all three have had either a black coach or GM in recent years, the Dolphins both).

Causes of action vs. the NFL

The first cause of action states that the NFL violated Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act.

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the standard is the “but-for” test: “But for the existence of X, would Y have occurred?” Flores would have the burden to prove that race was the “but-for” factor.

The other cause of action alleges a series of violations of human rights laws that subjected Flores—and other class members—to disparate terms and conditions of employment relative to their white peers. Again, Flores will need to show that teams engaged in discrimination (here the phrase is “acted with discriminatory motivation”) and find the smoking gun(s).

More broadly, Flores seeks a host of systemic changes from the NFL, including:

• Funding a committee dedicated to sourcing Black investors to take majority NFL ownership stakes.

• Allowing select Black players and coaches to participate in the interviewing process for coaching and general manager positions.

• Requiring teams to reduce to writing the rationale for hiring and termination decisions, including a full explanation of the basis for any subjective influences.

• Creating and funding a training program for Black lower-level coaches who demonstrate an aptitude and interest in advancing to a coordinator position.

• Pay transparency for all general managers, head coaches and coordinators.

What will happen

As we know, the legal calendar moves a lot slower than the NFL calendar. This case has drawn tremendous attention, which will last a few days before the sporting world focuses on the Olympics and then the Super Bowl. And, as we truly know so well, there will be more NFL dramas weekly, if not daily.

The NFL will stand by PR statements about diversity and say that the case is “without merit.” The league will tout that—to its credit—it has implemented further advances of the Rooney Rule, rewarding franchises with compensatory draft picks that develop minority candidates hired as general managers by other teams. Also, the NFL has had networking events for minority coaching and front office staff over the years, a positive step that deserves recognition.

But the Flores suit brings a fresh eye and spotlight on the lack of racial diversity in leadership of a league that is predominantly Black. The NFL has not been shy about denouncing racism—with messages painted in the end zones and adorned to the back of players’ helmets. Cynicism and skepticism will now rain upon the league that those messages ring hollow. Indeed, the league’s own highest-ranking Black executive, Troy Vincent, has been candid about the problems in this area.

The key to this and any lawsuit like this, of course, will be evidence. The Belichick texts are one piece, but what else is there? What evidence is there that the Broncos conducted a half-hearted sham interview? What is the evidence that Ross bribed Flores to lose? What is the evidence of the yacht invitation with the quarterback? And perhaps most importantly, what will be the evidence from others joining the class action with their own allegations?

Many are saying that NFL owners are quaking in their boots about discovery and the release of sensitive and confidential information. Well, we said that about the Kaepernick case, we said that about the concussion case, we said that about the St. Louis case; and we are now saying it about the Washington Football Team (now the Commanders) case, the Gruden case and this Flores case. The NFL has some high-priced lawyers—there are always lawyers—and they seem undefeated in avoiding discovery.

Spinning this back to where we started, Flores seems interested in much more than personal vindication. It is about the greater good: changing systemic issues that have held back Black coaches.

The success or failure of this case will be measured with what happens on that front, and the world is now watching.

Hue Jackson claims that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam also wanted to lose in 2016 and 2017.  Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com:

Former Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson said Wednesday on ESPN’s SportsCenter that the team had a “four-year plan” that incentivized losing during the first two years which led to his 1-31 record during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

Jackson said that bonus money was available if certain measurables were met such as aggregate rankings, being the youngest team and having so many draft picks.

“Teams that win are just not the youngest team, not that the youngest teams can’t win, so I didn’t understand the process,” Jackson told ESPN. “I didn’t understand what the plan was, I asked for clarity because it did not talk about winning and losing until Year 3 and 4. So that told you right there that something wasn’t correct but I still couldn’t understand it until I had the team that I had.”

Jackson said he told Browns owner Jimmy Haslam that he wasn’t interested in bonus money and instead wanted that money used to improve the team.

“And I remember very candidly saying to Jimmy, ‘I’m not interested in bonus money,’ because I’ve never known that to be a bonus. I was interested in taking whatever that money was and putting it toward getting more players on our football team because I didn’t think we were very talented at all,” Jackson told ESPN. “I know what good football teams look like, play like, what they act like and we didn’t have a lot of talented players on the team at that time.”

Jackson added later in the interview that, “I do know that no head coach is going to survive if you lose a lot of games.”

Jackson appeared on SportsCenter after he and the head of his foundation implied on social media that he had been paid to lose games during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

Jackson and Kimberly Diemert, the executive director of the Hue Jackson Foundation, which works to prevent human trafficking, were tweeting in response to Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL and three teams — the Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos and New York Giants — alleging discrimination regarding his interview processes with Denver and New York and his firing last month by Miami.

In the lawsuit, Flores alleged that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross attempted to incentivize him to purposely lose games shortly after he was hired in 2019, allegedly offering Flores $100,000 for every loss that season.

In her tweet, Diemert claimed the Browns paid Jackson and several executives a bonus to lose games when he was the head coach in Cleveland, adding that “we have records that will help” Flores’ case. Jackson also had earlier tweeted multiple times backing Diemert’s claims.

A spokesperson for the Browns called the charge “completely fabricated” and said that “any accusation that any member of our organization was incentivized to deliberately lose games is categorically false.”

Jackson told ESPN he has talked to the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell about the Browns’ plan, “so this is not new.”

“I went to arbitration in this case against the Browns where I didn’t win anything,” Jackson said. “People don’t understand that I tried to sound this alarm.”

Jackson said he “wasn’t offered $100,000 for every game, but there was a substantial amount of money made within what happened in this situation every year at the end of it.”

He said he can “prove anything and everything that I’m saying. The National Football League knows I can prove anything and everything I’m saying. And I don’t run from that. … If they feel like I’m being dishonest, call me on it, let’s sit down in front of everybody and put it out all there and see who’s telling the truth.”

Jackson said he would be willing to join Flores’ lawsuit, which was filed as a class action, “if that’s what needs to happen.”

“I’m not afraid to stand behind Brian when it comes to anything, because I know what our men go through, and I don’t want this for the men that come behind me, at all.”

The Browns went 1-15 in 2016, then 0-16 the next season, giving them the No. 1 draft pick in back-to-back years. Cleveland drafted defensive end Myles Garrett in 2017, then quarterback Baker Mayfield in 2018. Jackson was fired midway through the 2019 season.

Grambling State hired Jackson to be its head coach in December.