Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell spoke at length at his end-of-season press conference Wednesday about wanting to support Brian Flores as Minnesota’s defensive coordinator pursues head coaching vacancies.

Flores has interviewed for Baltimore’s top job, and could very well be a legitimate candidate for Steelers’ position after Mike Tomlin on Tuesday walked away from Pittsburgh, where Flores served as the linebackers coach before coming to Minnesota.

“I’m really excited for him,” O’Connell said. “I think it’s important that he totally commits to going through this process, especially the head coaching process, and put his best foot forward, which I know he will. He’s been through it before. I’m not surprised people are wanting to talk to him about that role.”

That’s how every professional sports organization speaks of its assistants with the potential to climb the coaching ladder. But what about Flores’ other opportunities — the seemingly lateral ones that exist?

He’s a free agent this offseason, available to land with another team not just as a head coach but also a defensive coordinator.

That’s a rarity in the NFL. Generally, if one of your coordinators is doing a good job, that person is inked to an extension before this point is ever reached. There’s nothing about a coordinator contract with the Vikings that would keep Flores from pursuing head coaching opportunities.

O’Connell insinuated Minnesota has tried to get a deal done with Flores prior to this point, to no avail. He doesn’t take that any type of way, noting his relationship with his defensive coordinator is “super strong” — O’Connell said the two talk “almost every day” — and that, based on their conversations, he has “a lot of confidence we’re going to be able to get something done with him as our defensive coordinator.”

O’Connell noted players like to reach free agency to learn their markets. Perhaps Flores wanted the same in this situation. What better negotiating tactic when hashing out a new deal with Minnesota than to field several lucrative offers for the same position with other teams?

Maybe that’s all this is. But, professionally, it could also make sense for Flores to seek employment elsewhere.

If he doesn’t land a head coaching gig in this cycle, he’ll be able to gauge what the true interest was from teams to acquire his services via the quantity and quality of head coaching interviews. If he was truly on the precipice of landing one of those 32 lucrative jobs, maybe maintaining his status quo makes sense for another season.

But if Flores isn’t pursued to the degree you’d think one of the game’s elite defensive minds should be, he may have to think differently.

He is at a disadvantage because of his ongoing litigation against the NFL. There probably are owners who are hesitant — right or wrong — to hire him to lead their organizations because of how the entire situation in Miami — his prior head coaching job — played out.

Flores may have to establish himself as the clear-cut, undeniably best candidate in a cycle in order to secure a job. Is the path to doing so by staying in Minnesota, where the notoriety isn’t exactly oozing and future success isn’t guaranteed thanks to the Vikings murky quarterback situation?

Nothing is a given in this league, especially for coordinators, who are the often the easiest scape goats. As an offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury guided an explosive Commanders’ offense to the NFC title game a year ago. Now, he’s out of a job.

Flores was brilliant this season, but the shine on his achievements was somewhat muted by the team’s flubs.

But if he went somewhere else — say, Washington or Dallas — and turned around a second defense in a short window, perhaps leading to championship-level team success thanks to the cemented quarterback play on the other side of the ball, that would be impossible for any organization to ignore.

O’Connell vowed the Vikings are being “aggressive” in their pursuit of retaining the defensive coordinator who reimagined Minnesota’s defense in a three-year window. He lauded the relationship he and Flores have established.

That all needs to not only be true, but carry as much water in the mind of Flores as it does with O’Connell. Because the decision facing the veteran coach isn’t clear cut.

The path from where Flores is now professionally to where he wants to be in the near future may not require one direct flight via Minnesota.

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The always-bustling parking lot at El Burrito Mercado, the Mexican market, restaurant and deli on the corner of Cesar Chavez and State streets on St. Paul’s West Side has been reduced to one entrance.

At that entrance, a man in a neon vest asks customers to limit their time inside.

And at the door, two other men open the door for customers.

This is not the way the business usually operates. Those men are making sure ICE doesn’t enter their establishment.

El Burrito was closed Monday and reopened with these new safety measures in place. On social media, they announced their Monday closure with the following message:

“Our family business, El Burrito Market, was founded in 1979 by our immigrant parents and has grown alongside our community, always welcoming everyone with open arms. Given the current circumstances and ICE’s aggressive and unjust actions against immigrants, we have decided to close on Monday, January 12th in solidarity with our staff, our families and our neighbors, who have been deeply affected by recent violence and injustices.”

The establishment isn’t the only one that has changed its hours or closed altogether after the federal immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities.

A few miles away, newly opened Grande Sunrise Mexican Restaurant has closed indefinitely.

In a social media post, the restaurant said its family and employees were OK, but “the safety and well-being of every person who interacts with our business are our top priority.”

And Boca Chica, which has been feeding St. Paul’s West Side since 1964, closed Monday and Tuesday “to allow our staff to mentally rest and stay safe.”

In Inver Grove Heights, neighbors have donated more than $3,000 to the owners of Don Papi Chulo, which closed temporarily last Thursday and has not yet reopened.

The organizer of the GoFundMe (gofund.me/b13a59f54) said the following on social media: “This is about helping a local family and small business cover basic costs and get through a tough time so they can hopefully reopen and continue serving the community.”

At Homi, a popular Mexican restaurant on University Avenue, business has been limited to takeout only — they’ve closed the dining room.

The news from restaurants isn’t all bad, though. During what is normally a very slow month, Chimborazo, the Ecuadorian restaurant that has St. Paul and Northeast Minneapolis locations, said they have seen record numbers of customers at both locations and asked patrons to be patient as wait times have increased. They’re also operating with their door locked — a team member must unlock it for customers to enter.

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As he reflected on everything that happened this season, head coach Kevin O’Connell acknowledged that the Vikings fell short of their ultimate goal. It pained him to watch the playoffs last weekend rather them compete in them.

Though there were a lot of variables that went into the Vikings underachieving by their standards, the misevaluation of quarterback J.J. McCarthy and his readiness played arguably the biggest role in that.

Asked on Tuesday afternoon at TCO Performance Center about the plan at the most important position, O’Connell expressed confidence in McCarthy while also leaving the door wide open to bring in somebody else, saying, “It’s about having the most talented and deep quarterback room that we can.”

On that note, O’Connell seemed to indicate that the Vikings need to more competition for McCarthy, which sets the stage for a fascinating next few months as it pertains to the future of the franchise.

“That’s what’s going to make everybody better,” O’Connell said. “I definitely want a competitive situation.”

It’s still unclear how big of a swing the Vikings plan to take over the next few months. There are a number of routes they could take whenever they decide to wade into those water. They will leave no stone unturned throughout the process.

The only certainty at this point is that general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell haven’t fully committed to McCarthy as their starter for the Vikings next season. He will have to earn the right by beating out whoever the Vikings decide to bring in.

“We’ve set a standard here for winning when we’ve gotten a certain level of play at that position,” Adofo-Mensah said. “That has allowed us to be explosive enough on offense to set the table for how we play defense.”

In other words, when the Vikings have been at their best in the past, they have generated a number of big plays on offense, which, in turn, has allowed them to thrive on defense.

That was especially evident last season with veteran quarterback Sam Darnold was at the helm. There was a balance on both sides of the ball that helped the Vikings finish with a 14-3 record.

The difference was drastic this season with McCarthy leading the charge. There were too many times that the offense needed to be bailed out be the defense and that resulted in the Vikings finishing with a 9-8 record.

“Just seeing how when we weren’t that explosive how teams played us,” Adofo-Mensah said. “That was a great learning experience that tied into the quarterback discussion and we will carry that with us moving forward.”

That explains why the Vikings have placed an emphasis on adding more competition for McCarthy that goes beyond what they had this season in veteran quarterback Carson Wentz and rookie quarterback Max Brosmer.

Not only did McCarthy prove to be wildly inconsistent, completing 57.6% of his pass attempts for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions, he also struggled to stay on the field, missing time with a high ankle sprain, a concussion, and a broken hand.

“We’re still looking at a quarterback who has started 10 games,” O’Connell said. “Not the ideal path for a quarterback to develop on the field.”

That might be the most concerning part about McCarthy. He’s started only 10 games in his career despite the fact that the Vikings have played 34 games since selecting him in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

That doesn’t mean there wasn’t growth from McCarthy. He showed marked improvement over the final month of this season, albeit against some of the worst defenses in the NFL, which provided some glimpses of what he could potentially be down the road.

“I was really encouraged by the type of football he started to play toward the second half of this season and finishing the way he did,” O’Connell said. “We all just tried to have a mindset on completions and how we could generate them and we started to see a little bit of that show up.”

That wasn’t enough for Adofo-Mensah or O’Connell to guarantee that McCarthy will be the starter for the Vikings next season.

“I know that he wants it more than anybody I’ve ever been around,” Adofo-Mensah said. “We’re excited to see his development and the steps he takes towards being available for us.”

Briefly

After wrapping up all of his exit interviews last week, O’Connell announced on Tuesday afternoon that assistant head coach Mike Pettine is retiring from the NFL. In his career, Pettine spent time with the Baltimore Ravens, the New York Jets, the Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns, the Seattle Seahawks, the Green Bay Packers, and the Chicago Bears, filling a variety of different roles in that span.

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By LISA MASCARO and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The plane used by the U.S. military to strike a boat accused of smuggling drugs off the coast of Venezuela last fall was painted to look like a civilian aircraft, a move that appears to be at odds with the Pentagon’s manual on the laws of war.

The plane, part of a secret U.S. fleet used in surveillance operations, also was carrying munitions in the fuselage, rather than beneath the aircraft, raising questions about the extent to which the operation was disguised in ways that run contrary to military protocol.

Details of the plane’s appearance, first reported Monday by The New York Times, were confirmed by two people familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement that “the U.S. military utilizes a wide array of standard and nonstandard aircraft depending on mission requirements.”

The new details come after the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on Venezuela — which began with it massing military resources in Latin America and attacking a series of alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing at least 115 people — culminated this month in a stunning raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He and his wife were spirited to the United States to face federal drug trafficking charges.

Alarmed by the actions, the U.S. Senate is preparing to vote this week on a war powers resolution that would prohibit further military action in Venezuela without authorization from lawmakers.

Trump said to be trying to deter Republicans from war powers resolution

President Donald Trump was been so incensed over the Senate’s potential slapback on his war powers authority that he has been aggressively calling several Republican senators who joined the Democrats in voting to advance the resolution last week. It’s headed for a final vote as soon as Wednesday.

“He was very, very fired up,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who did not vote for the resolution. He described Trump as “animated” on the subject when they spoke before last week’s vote.

In justifying the boat strikes since September, the Trump administration has argued that the U.S. is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels in the region and that those operating the boats are unlawful combatants.

US military guidelines warn against a civilian disguise

However, U.S. military guidelines on the laws of war prohibit troops from pretending to be civilians while engaging in combat. The practice is legally known as “perfidy.”

The Defense Department manual, which runs over 1,000 pages, specifically notes that “feigning civilian status and then attacking” is an example of the practice. An Air Force manual says the practice was prohibited because it means the enemy “neglects to take precautions which are otherwise necessary.”

The Navy’s manual explains that “attacking enemy forces while posing as a civilian puts all civilians at hazard,” and sailors must use offensive force “within the bounds of military honor, particularly without resort to perfidy.”

Wilson said each aircraft goes through a “rigorous procurement process to ensure compliance with domestic law, department policies and regulations, and applicable international standards, including the law of armed conflict.”

The plane that was painted as a civilian aircraft was used in a Sept. 2 strike, the first in what would become a monthslong campaign of U.S. deadly military strikes on suspected drug boats with political and policy ramifications for the Trump administration.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top officials have been called on by Congress to answer questions and concerns about the actions — particularly the first one because it involved a follow-up strike that killed two survivors holding onto the wreckage of the vessel hit in the initial attack.

Legal experts have said the follow-on strike may have been unlawful because striking shipwrecked sailors is considered out of line with laws of war. Some lawmakers have called for the Pentagon to publicly release the unedited video of the operation, which Hegseth has said he will not do.

In a Dec. 1 meeting of Trump’s Cabinet, Hegseth said he “watched that first strike live” but that he left before the follow-up strike.

Legal justification for Maduro’s ouster shared with lawmakers

Senators on Tuesday were able to review, in a classified setting, the White House’s still undisclosed legal opinion for having used the military to oust Maduro. It was described as a lengthy document outlining the Trump administration’s rationale.

Exiting the classified facility at the Capitol, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican who has long opposed U.S. military campaigns abroad, said none of the legal rationale should be kept secret.

“Legal arguments and constitutional arguments should all be public, and it’s a terrible thing that any of this is being kept secret because the arguments aren’t very good,” Paul said.

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said he is not confident in the legality of the Venezuelan operation and in particular Trump’s plans to “run” the South American country. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the control will come from enforcing a quarantine on sanctioned oil tankers tied to Venezuela as the U.S. asserts power over the country’s oil.

“There’s an ongoing question whether the use of military can be for bringing a person to justice,” Welch said, calling Maduro “a really bad guy.”

The legal rationale addressed the military action “but not the current reality that the president is saying we’ll be there for years and that we’re running Venezuela,” Welch said.