Patriots’ Flores is off to Miami

One day after directing a New England Patriots defense that held rising Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and one of the NFL’s most potent offenses to just a field goal, Brian Flores jumped on a plane to Miami to be introduced as the Dolphins head coach.

“It’s been a whirlwind 24 hours,” Flores said, as his wife Jenny and three children looked on during his news conference.

Flores — the 37-year-old, first-time head coach — and the Dolphins agreed to terms officially on Monday.

Flores was the first of six candidates to interview for the job with team owner Stephen Ross and general manager Chris Grier on Jan. 4.

Bengals

After 16 years without a playoff win under Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati decided to try a new direction by hiring Zac Taylor. Three consecutive losing seasons and 28 years without a playoff victory, led the Bengals to join the latest wave — by turning to a young, offensive-minded coach. Taylor, the former Rams quarterbacks coach, reached the deal a few hours after LA’s 13-3 loss to the Patriots. The Bengals and Dolphins were the final two teams to fill head coaching vacancies.

Elsewhere

Unaudited tallies released Monday by state gambling regulators show people wagered roughly $145.94 million on the Super Bowl at Nevada’s 200 sportsbooks. That’s about $12.65 million less than in 2018. The sportsbooks made a profit of almost $10.79 million, about nine times what they won last year.