Bieniemywaiting his turn
Chiefs offensive coordinator regarded as one of NFL’s top head coaching candidates
Eric Bieniemy, filled with purpose and no small amount of anger and frustration, headed straight toward the Kansas City bench.
The highly respected offensive coordinator barked out his displeasure at the Chiefs’ star-studded offense, punctuating his message by powerfully pointing his right hand forward while tightly holding his play sheet.
Bieniemy, a former NFL running back who finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting at Colorado behind winner Ty Detmer and runner-up Raghib “Rocket” Ismail 30 years ago, tore into the offense so passionately that his headset fell to the ground.
The Chiefs’ gold standard, established with a Super Bowl championship last season earned behind Patrick Mahomes’ cannon arm and a high-octane offense, wasn’t being met, and Bieniemy demanded accountability.
Although the Chiefs were comfortably leading Baltimore in this September game at M&T Bank Stadium and wound up piling up 517 yards of total offense with four touchdownpasses from Mahomes in a 34-20 victory, they got off to a sloppy start in the second half with a fumble and a turnover on downs in their first two possessions.
Bieniemy wasn’t going to stand for it. The Chiefs won handily, defeating the Ravens for a third year in a row.
Bieniemy, 51, is all gas, no brakes.
Known for coaching his players in a demanding fashion, Bieniemy, also is the type of coach who regularly broke bread with his players before the coronavirus pandemic and treats them like his two sons. He has drawn praise from the Chiefs and around the league for his deep emotional intelligence and his strong motivational skills.
“Eric is a firm leader of men and a strong disciplinarian, and the players, the coaches to everyone who works in the building, from the janitors to the cafeteria staff, all respond to him and how he delivers his message andl etting them know how much they’re appreciated,” an NFL source said. “Eric is all about accountability and treating everyone the same with a ton of respect. He’s about pulling people together to work as a team as one. He’s a phenomenal recruiter of talent who players trust and want to play for. He’s ready to be a CEO. He’s ready to be a head coach.”
Bieniemy is one of the hottest NFL head coaching candidates and is in heavy demand from teams.
The Texans, Falcons and Lions all have coaching vacancies, and there’s a high expectation around the league that several other jobs may open up, including the Jets, Jaguars, Chargers and Bears.
Count Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, Mahomes’ friend, as one of the players with respect for Bieniemy, the righthand man for Chiefs coach Andy Reid.
“I haven’t spoken to Patrick about Eric, but I’ve known about Eric from what I hear from guys that play on that team,” Watson said. “He’s a great guy. He’s a fun guy to be around. Very creative. Everyone likes him. I haven’t heard anything bad.”
Reid’s coaching tree includes Ravens SuperBowl-winning coach John Harbaugh, Eagles Super Bowl-winning coach Doug Pederson, Bills coach Sean McDermott, Washington coach Ron Rivera and Bears coach Matt Nagy, along with former NFL head coaches Pat Shurmur (Giants), Todd Bowles ( Jets), Brad Childress (Vikings), Steve Spagnuolo (Rams, Giants) and Leslie Frazier (Vikings).
Reid is firm in his belief that Bieniemy is destined to be a great NFL head coach.
“I’m Eric Bieniemy’s biggest fan,” Reid said. “I think he’ll be a great head coach. When I talk about leaders of men, you’re not going to find a better one. I’d say hire him, like right now.
“I don’t want to lose him, but if you’re asking me if he’s ready to be a head coach? Yeah, he’s ready. Nobody is in more control than what he is within this game. He knows football, but he knows the offense like the back of his hand. He is in the quarterback room every day. I think Patrick would tell you how much of an influence he has had on him.”
And Mahomes does.
“I think the details and the way heis able to control the room to get the best out of every single player is a big thing,” Mahomes said. “He holds you to a high standard, and he holds you to the standard that you need to be perfect with every single rep you get in practice.
“He’d be an awesome head coach. I mean, he has that mindset, thatwork ethic and that determination that you need to be a head coach in this league. He would be an amazing coach.”
Bieniemy has experienced the frustration of interviewing before and not landing the job, including previous meetings with the Browns, Jets, Bengals, Dolphins, Buccaneers, Giants and Panthers.
Through each experience, Bieniemy learned about the process, potential employers and himself. He’s been steadily working toward this moment to be ready whenever he gets his shot. There’s a growing sense around the NFL that this could be his year.
Instead of becoming embittered by not getting a job offer, Bieniemy has treated each opportunity as a teaching moment.
“When you talk about being a headcoach, it’s about being a leader, leading men, compelling men to do something that is uncommon,” Bieniemy said. “You have to make sure, when you take that stage, they can feel who you are.
That’s what defines, in my opinion, a head coach, not somebody who is the play-caller. Can he hold the room accountable and to a higher standard?”
The NFL, inwhich Black players make up roughly 70 percent of the rosters, has acknowledged its poor track record when it comes to hiring minorities for head coaching and general manager positions. The league has enhanced the Rooney Rule, held quarterback summits intended to raise awareness about diverse candidates and developed pipeline lists of potential head coaches, coordinators and executives.
There are just four Black head coaches currently in the league: Texans interim coach Romeo Crennel, the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin, the Dolphins’ Brian Flores and the Chargers’ Anthony Lynn — in addition to one Hispanic coach in Rivera. Rivera was the only minority head coach added during the last hiring cycle.
“I think he has to continue to keep working because he has done a good job,” Crennel said of Bieniemy. “He’s with a good organization, andI can tell even though Andy calls the plays, he relies on Eric quite a bit because they talk a lot during the offensive sequence. When you talk about not having gotten a chance yet, the fact that you’re getting chances and getting interviews means that people are talking about you.
“Eventually, it’s going to happen for you. I think it’ll happen for him aswell because, I mean, I had eight interviews before I got ahead job, so just keep working, keep doing what you’re doing, winning Super Bowls and go on.”
What has held Bieniemy back from landing a job?
His lack of play-calling experience often is brought up as a reason to not hire him, but that doesn’t make a ton of sense, considering that Reid is one of the brightest offensive minds in NFL history. Reid loves to call plays and didn’t give up play-calling duties when Nagy and Pederson worked for him.
It’s the same with Bieniemy and rising Chiefs quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka. They collaborate and construct the game plans in talking with Mahomes and other key players. Reid takes their input and puts it into practice.
During games, Reid leans on Bieniemy for his feel for the game. It’s a give-and-take on the sideline for all 60 minutes every week.
“It seems like play-calling is always the issue,” Reid said. “He called during the preseason. He helps me with all of the set-ups. The only reason I do it is because I enjoy doing it. If that’s the issue, that shouldn’t be an issue.
“He knows football like the back of his hand. He is passionate about it and a great person. I’m a big fan of his. Don’t really want to lose him, but I have a feeling that’s going to happen. Somebody is getting a championship-caliber coach there.”
Bienie my meets with Mahomes and the quarterbacks every day, communicates plays to Mahomes and talks with him in between series aswell as setting up the Chiefs’ pass protection schemes.
“EB’s done a great job of putting our stuff together, as far as froman offensive staff, bringing us along,” said Kafka, a former NFL quarterback. “He sets the tempo for the offense. So I think that alone, and the success we’ve had with him and Coach (Reid) leading it, should tell you right there.”
“I hope Eric’s day comes sooner rather than later,” NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said in a telephone interview. “The data about Eric and his leadership, it speaks for itself. We’re all hopeful and wishful for his opportunity.”
Bieniemy called plays for two years in college as Colorado’s offensive coordinator. Whenever Bieniemy becomes a head coach, he’s going to call the plays.
“There are plenty of head coaches running around this league that haven’t been the playcaller,” Bieniemy said. “I don’t want anybody to feel sorry for me. I’m in a great place.”
The next steps for Bieniemy are continuing to do his job for the 12-1 Chiefs heading into Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints. During a Thursday Zoom interview, Bieniemy was friendly and engaging while holding court with reporters as he discussed chasing home-field advantage and a second consecutive Super Bowl and debated the strategy of going for it on fourth down and the epic season of star tight end Travis Kelce.
“He’s one of the coaches in this league who has as fine a reputation for being able to speak and to get guys to play hard with scheme and effort and technique, and really demands a lot from his players, but still yet has that players’ touch,” Colts coach Frank Reich said of Bieniemy. “As a former player, understands that side of it as well.”
Reid hired Bieniemy as running backs coach in 2013 and promoted him to offensive coordinator in 2018.
“I’ve seen him with Patrick, and Patrick’s pretty good,” Reid said. “Those guys (like Bieniemy), that’s a hard thing to find. When you’re around him every day, you know it.
“He grabs the coaches, and they come up with these ideas and we roll. Then they let me in on it so I know what’s going on. He makes everyone around him better, and his knowledge of the game is second to none. I know how good he is and what a good football coach he is and a great person.”
One of Bieniemy’s greatest influences as am an and a coach: Colorado coach Bill McCartney. Bieniemy rushed for 1,628 yards and 17 touchdowns during a national championship season in 1990.
“Coach Mac shaped me a lot,” he said. “He was a great disciplinarian and he brought together a lot of different men from a lot of different areas and that was huge. I’ve known Coach Mac for half my life, and we would all run through a wall for him.”
Bieniemy, who helps lead the fifth-ranked offense last year and the top-ranked offense two years ago, has been waiting patiently for his time to ascend into the headcoaching ranks. Whenever that happens, his Chiefs players will miss him.
“If you want to talk about a guy who doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves, I think Eric Bieniemy is that guy,” Kelce said. “Every single year, he holds the expectations and demands people to meet those expectations. I think that’s helped our team unbelievably in terms of progression.”