Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa doesn't mince words about Vikings' Brian Flores

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa didn't hold back when former head coach and current Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores was brought up during the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Monday.

Tagovailoa described the differences between being coached by Flores and his current head coach Mike McDaniel. Flores coached Tagovailoa in 2020 and 2021 before McDaniel took over.

Flores was fired after going 24-25 in three seasons in South Beach. He later sued the league, Dolphins, Giants and Broncos, alleging racially discriminatory hiring practices.

Here's what Tagovailoa said, in full:

"To put it in simplest terms, if you woke up every morning, and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don't belong doing what you do, that you shouldn't be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven't earned this right, and then you have somebody else come in and tell you, 'Dude, you are the best fit for this. You are accurate, you are the best whatever, you are this, you are that.' How would that make you feel, listening to one or the other? You see what I'm saying?"

The Dolphins quarterback continued:

"And then you hear it and hear it — regardless of what it is, the good or the bad — and you hear it more and more, you start to actually believe that. I don't care who you are. You could be the President of the United States. (If) you have a terrible person that's telling [you] things that you don't want to hear or probably shouldn't be hearing, you're gonna start to believe that about yourself. That's sort of what ended up happening. It's basically been two years of training that out of, not just me, but a couple of the guys as well that have been here since my rookie year all the way 'til now."

It was an eye-opening, if not shocking, take on his first two years in the NFL but looking back there were many instances when one could allege that Flores didn't have a lot of confidence in his young quarterback. Flores at times benched Tagovailoa his rookie season in favor of veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick and much of his second season featured murmurs of Miami trading for quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Flores was hired by the Vikings in early 2023 and helped the defense improve from 31st overall in 2022 to 16th in 2023.

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell was asked about Tagovailoa's comments on Monday.

“I don’t particularly have a comment on something that took place with another team or I don’t like to comment on comments of players on other teams but I can just tell you I know the players Flo works with, he’s got great relationships here, he really has," O'Connell told reporters.

"I know you guys have heard a lot of them talk about how much they enjoy playing for him and how much I enjoy working with him every day and that’s all I can really comment on and I’d just like to leave it at that.”

Flores hasn't provided any comment on his former quarterback's words as of Monday night.

The Vikings and Dolphins, to the dismay of NFL fans, won't face each other this season in the regular season.