The Kansas City Chiefs are reportedly making the change at offensive coordinator that felt inevitable with Matt Nagy’s push for a head coaching job.
The first reported interview request by the Chiefs was Bears’ running back coach Eric Bieniemy, and the team is planning to make it the only one by hiring the former Kansas City assistant coach of 10 years.
Bieniemy was the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator from 2018-2022 before making a lateral move to coach the Washington Commanders for one season. After a one-year stint as associate head coach at UCLA, Bieniemy joined the Chicago Bears’ coaching staff with newly-hired head coach Ben Johnson as the running backs coach.
This season, Chicago won the NFC North and finished top 10 in scoring, total yards and rushing yards. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Rams ended the Bears’ magical season in a 20-17 overtime thriller, and Bieniemy became available to be interviewed for promotion.
Before Bieniemy’s five-year, two-championship run as the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator, he was the running backs coach, a title he held from the first year of head coach Andy Reid’s tenure in 2013.
His time leading the Chiefs’ offense coincided with the first five starting seasons of quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ career, and Kansas City finished each year in the top 6 of NFL teams in scoring and total yardage. That’s remarkable when compared to the last three seasons: the Chiefs have not finished higher than ninth in either category.
Mahomes and Bieniemy had a unique relationship. The coach called him a “competitive prick” in the 2020 preseason, and there were multiple animated conversations on the sidelines between the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
However, when Mahomes spoke with local media last Thursday, he made a point to emphasize accountability as a desired trait in the team’s next offensive coordinator. Well, real accountability from a football coach isn’t always fun for the player, and it doesn’t always look great to fans without the internal perspective.
Many factors are playing into the Chiefs’ clear priority to bring Bieniemy back, but there’s one certainty: he will heighten the passion and intensity of the offensive coaching staff.
