This year’s Super Bowl is competing with what could be billed the “Suit’er Bowl” as the No. 1 topic among football fans.

It’s a prickly situation with accusations, denials and counteraccusations sailing like pigskins spiraling in all directions.

On Feb. 1, fired Miami Dolphins Coach Brian Flores sued the NFL, the Dolphins, the New York Giants and the Denver Broncos, alleging racism and violations of federal employment law and that his interviews were a sham meant only to fulfill the NFL’s Rooney Rule that a minority candidate be included in the finalists.

Flores was sent packing by Dolphins owner Stephen Ross after three seasons that produced records of 5-11, 10-6 and 9-8, but no playoffs.

The suit claims that text messages Flores received from New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick, as well as additional media reports, show the New York Giants planned to hire Brian Daboll as the new head coach before interviewing any minority candidate as required by the Rooney Rule.

Flores also alleges Ross asked him to “tank,” or deliberately lose games, and offered him $100,000 per loss to help assure the Miami Dolphins had a higher draft pick, presumably quarterback Tua Tagovailoa out of the University of Alabama.

Additionally in the suit, Flores alleges Ross asked him to “tamper” with a quarterback (later determined to be Tom Brady) before that quarterback had free-agent status. Flores said he would not agree to those requests, angering the team owner.

Flores also alleges Denver Broncos executive John Elway conducted a sham interview with him in 2019 for a coaching position, meant only to satisfy Rooney Rule requirements.

Ross, Elway and the Giants adamantly deny the charges. In a Yardbarker interview, Ross called Flores’ allegations “false, malicious and defamatory.”

The Rooney Rule, named after former Pittsburgh Owner Dan Rooney, was installed by the NFL in 2003 to assure minority candidates were interviewed and given equal opportunity at coach- ing jobs.

Despite the mandated interviews, there is only one returning Black NFL head coach, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ highly successful Mike Tomlin. Another, the Houston Texans’ David Culley, was fired after this past regular season.

White coaches are no strangers to pink slips, either.

Other head coaches terminated from the 2021 list were Joe Judge of the New York Giants, Matt Nagy of the Chicago Bears, Vic Fangio of the Denver Broncos, Urban Meyer of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jon Gruden of the Las Vegas Raiders and Mike Zimmer of the Minnesota Vikings. Also, Sean Payton resigned from the New Orleans Saints.

According to 2020 U.S. Census, about 12.4 percent of the nation’s population identifies as African-American. If NFL coaches were proportional to the census, there would be about 2.5 Black coaches.

More realistically, the NFL players are about 70 percent Black. If NFL coaches were proportional to the players, about 22 head coaches would be Black.

Before getting the Miami job, Flores was an assistant coach (most recently linebackers’ coach) for the New England Patriots from 2008 to 2018. He was part of four Super Bowl titles with the Patriots.

Flores’ solid record with the Dolphins, after taking over a franchise that was 13-19 the two seasons before his arrival, makes his firing seem unfair. Surely, none of the legal issues would have come up at this time if Flores was still calling the shots in South Florida.

It makes any football fan wonder what is going on behind closed doors.

It was no secret billionaire Ross, 81, and Flores, 40, who is of Honduran ancestry and grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., didn’t see eye to eye, so perhaps politics was a factor.

While Ross has contributed many millions to RISE (Ross Initiative in Sport Equality), an anti-racism program, he is also among Florida’s most deep-pocketed Republican donors. During the 2020 presidential race, Ross held a $250,000-a- plate fundraiser for incumbent President Donald Trump. Flores has made it clear he is not a Trump fan.

People argue about politics all the time; there is no reason a coach and owner couldn’t fall into the same divisive trap.

Based on three seasons in Miami, Flores demonstrated he was a strong enough coach to deserve retention, not dismissal. After all, the Dolphins won seven straight games between Nov. 7 and Dec. 16, and eight of their last nine.

So now this football issue could be decided by a person in a black robe instead of by a referee with a whistle around his or her neck. Lawyers on both sides will argue their cases with the end result, hopefully, being an un- biased decision.

So on the cusp of football’s greatest spectacle, what are people chatting about while preparing their Super Bowl parties—Rams versus Bengals or Flores versus the NFL?