Steve Spagnuolo’s defense is so good that it inspires violence.
Spags dialed up a corner blitz on a fourth-and-five after the two-minute warning in the Kansas City Chiefs’ AFC Championship win over the Buffalo Bills. You know the play. Josh Allen threw deep to Dalton Kincaid with pressure in his face. Kincaid can’t come up with it. The Chiefs end Buffalo’s season for the fourth time in five years.
Benjamin Solak suggested that Allen throw to Khalil Shakir on the orbit route. Ryan Leaf responded by tweeting, “Someone needs to put a boot in your ass.”
It was the kind of calm, rational response you find online.
Unsurprisingly, Spagnuolo sent a superior blitz at the most crucial moment. He was at his best when his best was required. At 65, with four Super Bowls on his resumé, Spags has the credibility to take a potentially game-changing risk.
If that sounds familiar, look no further than Minnesota’s sidelines. Brian Flores isn’t afraid to send a blitz. Like Spagnuolo, his defense uses disguises to confuse opposing quarterbacks, even established veterans like Aaron Rodgers.
Flores, 43, is over 20 years younger than Spagnuolo. Still, like Spags, he grew up on the East Coast and got his start in the NFL there. Flores is from Brooklyn, and the New England Patriots hired him in 2004 after he finished playing at Boston College.
He held various roles in New England, starting as a scout and later coaching offense and defense. Flores worked for the Patriots until the Miami Dolphins hired him as their head coach in 2019. He went 24-25 in three years and later sued Miami’s owner for offering to pay him to lose and the NFL for discriminatory hiring practices.
Flores took interviews with every team that offered him one but will remain in Minnesota next year. He has repeatedly said he’s happy with the Vikings organization and will only leave if another team presents him with the right head coaching opportunity. Given how much Minnesota’s defense drove winning last year, the Vikings would be wise to keep him happy.
Spagnuolo, 65, is old enough to have coached the St. Louis Rams and in NFL Europe. He grew up near Worcester, Mass., played Division III football in Springfield, and started his coaching career at UMass.
Aside from a year as an intern with the Washington Commanders, he spent most of his early career coaching college football on the East Coast. However, he made stops in Barcelona and Frankfurt before the Philadelphia Eagles gave him his first NFL opportunity in 1999.
Spagnuolo coached defensive backs and linebackers in Philadelphia until Tom Coughlin hired him as his defensive coordinator in 2007. Spags’ defense shut down Tom Brady and the undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl that year.
Washington considered hiring Spagnuolo as its head coach after that season. However, he removed his name from consideration after the Giants made him one of the league’s highest-paid defensive coordinators. The Rams hired him a year later.
Spagnuolo coached in St. Louis until 2011. He returned to the Giants in 2015 and served as their interim coach for four games in 2017. However, New York hired former Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur as its head coach a year later.
After going 10-38 in St. Louis and 1-4 with the Giants, Spagnuolo’s record alone likely will keep him from getting another head coaching job. Still, PFF and Pro Football Network rank him as the best defensive coordinator in the league.
Andy Reid hired Spagnuolo in 2019, and he’s won three Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs. Much to Reid’s surprise, nobody has poached him. However, after Sean McVay’s success with the Rams, teams want young, offensive head coaches.
The situation has worked for Kansas City. The Chiefs have retained one of the best defensive minds and established continuity, while Spagnuolo has won three Super Bowls. However, it may not work out the same for the Vikings.
Eventually, a quality head coaching position will open, and Flores should be at the top of their list. Still, the Giants paid Spagnuolo a premium in his mid-40s to retain him, and the Chiefs have kept him happy in Kansas City. The Vikings may not be able to hold on to Flores forever. However, they’d be wise to do whatever they can to keep him content, especially considering he had success as a head coach in Miami.
While head coaches get more acclaim than coordinators, people around the league recognized Spags for what he’s done with Kansas City’s defense. Given how immediately Flores turned Minnesota’s defense around, he’s also considered one of the better defensive coordinators in football.
Even with the power and prestige head coaches earn, it’s still better to be an elite coordinator for a winning franchise than a head coach for an owner who doesn’t know what they’re doing.