Souhan: Vikings, Lions coordinators key to Sunday ... and future?

The best matchup within the best matchup of the NFL weekend features two coordinators who could soon be head coaches, but should stay put.

Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has beautifully melded old-school power football with an intricate modern passing system that has made Detroit not only a team you fear could beat you, but a team that you fear could embarrass you.

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is becoming one of the league’s most famous assistant coaches as his group surges in effectiveness and unpredictability.

Which will win the day on Sunday: Johnson’s geometry or Flores’ alchemy?

Flores will send exotic blitzes, and schemes that look like blitzes but aren’t, against an accomplished veteran quarterback (Jared Goff) and an excellent offensive coach with a half-dozen outstanding skill position players at his disposal.

This matchup is remindful of the ‘90s, when Vikings defensive coordinator Tony Dungy built one of the league’s best defenses and went head-to-head with Packers coach and passing-game guru Mike Holmgren.

Like Dungy, Flores has made himself a head coach in waiting. Like Dungy, Flores faces obstacles beyond his control.

Dungy was trying to become a head coach at a time when there just weren’t many Black head coaches. Flores is dealing with the same institutional biases while he’s also suing the league, which many of the owners who will soon be hiring coaches probably don’t appreciate.

So here’s a question for the Lions, Vikings, Johnson and Flores:

Can a team make a coordinator position so lucrative and enjoyable that a great coordinator will be willing to stay in place rather than pursue a head coaching opening in the offseason?

Ignore, for a moment, the obvious: Johnson and Flores almost certainly want to be head coaches. Great coaches want to prove they can run their own show.

For those of us not emotionally or occupationally invested in their ambition, we can afford to be philosophical and ask this:

Would you really rather be the head coach of the Jacksonville Stinking Jaguars or New York Dysfunctional Jets than a highly paid assistant head coach/coordinator in a good organization with solid ownership and a chance to win the Super Bowl?

That’s what the Lions and Vikings have built — organizations where players want to play, where ownership is stable, the front office can put together a winning roster and the fans will invent some form of knighthood to anyone who brings their city their first Super Bowl title.

One of the reasons the Lions look like one of the NFL’s best teams is that Johnson took his name out of consideration for head coaching jobs and stayed in Detroit this offseason.

Flores didn’t appear to draw much interest last offseason, but if his defense keeps playing this way, someone will eventually hire him as a head coach no matter the status of his lawsuit. (Won’t they?)

Between now and the inevitable coaching searches, the Lions and Vikings will play at least twice, with the first matchup scheduled for Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Their teams are a combined 9-1. They have the two best point differentials in the league. The Lions feature a quarterback who won while playing under O’Connell when he was with the Rams; the Vikings have emulated the Lions by emphasizing their running game this year.

The Lions entered the season as a favorite to play in the Super Bowl; the Vikings are the only undefeated team in the NFC.

The Vikings and Lions wouldn’t be where they are today without Johnson and Flores.

Think about which NFL head coaching jobs will likely be available by the end of the season: Jacksonville. The Jets. The Raiders. Possibly Carolina, Tennessee or Cleveland.

There are more than a few lousy owners and lousy organizations in that group.

These teams’ creativity in trying to keep Johnson and Flores should match the creativity Johnson and Flores display every Sunday.