Brian Flores is a smart man. He has been a head coach in the NFL, and he would like another opportunity to serve as the front man for another NFL franchise.

Flores can assure himself another opportunity to serve as an NFL head coach if he can turn around the Minnesota Vikings defense.

There have been few teams that have played defense as badly as the Vikings have in the past three years. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell determined the scheme the Vikings used in 2022 under former defensive coordinator Ed Donatell was not good enough.

That was a fair assessment, but Donatell was not the only reason the Vikings ranked 31^st in yards allowed and tied for 29^th in points per game allowed last season.

Remember, they were nearly as bad in 2020 and 2021. Three years of brutal defensive play is basically an eon in the NFL. The Vikings interviewed Flores and determined he could instigate some improvement.

They may be fooling themselves. While Flores is aggressive and will institute a series of blitzes that the team never considered last year, the question is whether the defensive players are good enough.

The Vikings did not go out in the offseason and pick up a superstar who could create havoc. The best newcomer is likely to be cornerback Byron Murphy, who is clearly a fine cover man and still ascending in his NFL career.

But he is not going to intimidate opponents, and the best defenses are led by a player who is going to assert his will and put fear into the hearts of an opponent.

The best player on the Vikings defense is likely Danielle Hunter, or at least the Vikings think he is. If they did not believe that, they would not have given him a $17 million contract this summer. Hunter appeared to be on that track earlier in his career when he was a Pro Bowl player in 2018 and 2019. Hunter was a pass rushing master in both of those years, as he registered 14.5 sacks in back to back years.

Some might mention that Hunter was a Pro Bowler last year as well, but his 10.5 sacks were nowhere near as impressive as his performance in his peak years. Hunter was an up-and-down player last year, and there were games where he barely made an impression. The only positive is that 7.5 of his 10.5 sacks came in Week 8 and the games that followed.

Perhaps he was finding his game in the first part of the season, and he played better when the season reached its midpoint. If so, that’s an indicator the 2023 season will be better for Hunter.

But he is not going to strike fear into the hearts of his opponents. He has excellent technique and speed coming around the corner, but he is not going to pound opponents into submission. He is not Joe Greene, Bruce Smith, Reggie White, Lawrence Taylor, Charles Haley, Ray Lewis or Aaron Donald.

Great defenses need a player opponents fear.

At his best, Hunter is a good and effective player, but he does not have a mean streak. He is not on the field with the sole purpose of punishing opponents.

Flores clearly knows this, and he is instituting a new game plan to get the most out of his defensive players. He had a level of success when he was a linebackers coach with the Patriots, but few gave him credit because he was working under Bill Belichick.

As head coach of the Dolphins from 2019 through 2021, he had success. His aggressive scheme helped the Dolphins improve defensively each of those years. They were not a great defensive team in any of those years, but they were middle of the pack in 2021, which was far better than the 29^th-ranked defense he inherited when he was hired.

Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell are not expecting miracles from the defense. However, if the Vikings can go from miserable to middle-of-the-pack on defense while the offense continues to thrive, they may have a good chance to repeat in the NFC North and at least a small chance to challenge the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers for NFC superiority.

If not, they will be looking up at the Detroit Lions.