Eric Bieniemy proves once again why he should be a head coach in the NFL

Before the 2020 season began, five NFL teams hired new head coaches: Matt Rhule of the Carolina Panthers, Ron Rivera of the Washington Football Team, Joe Judge of the New York Giants, Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns, and Mike McCarthy of the Dallas Cowboys. One coach who was not hired as a head coach in the 2020 offseason was Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, despite the fact that the Chiefs won their first Super Bowl in 50 years, and head coach Andy Reid told anybody who would listen (and apparently, a lot of people who wouldn’t) that Eric Bieniemy was ready for that responsibility.

“You guys know how I feel about Eric,” Reid said as the year turned. “I think he’d be tremendous. There’s a team out there — I don’t know the team, but there’s a team out there — that could really use him. Being the leader of men that he is, you’re not going to find people better than that in that category. And he’s a sharp offensive mind on top of that. So I’m a big fan. Don’t want to lose him, but reality is, there’s a good chance that happens.

“This guy is a phenomenal coach is what they’re looking at,” Reid said. “And I think [all Chiefs players] would all stand on the table for him. … They’d all stand up and tell you what he’s all about. He’s a leader of men. And they all know he’s going to shoot you straight — honest, honest, honest. And then they also know and respect his mind. I give him, every weekend, I sit down, we put together this game plan sheet with 200-plus plays on it and he memorizes every play, every formation, just — boom — on recall like that. And every week, I go, ‘Listen, are you good with this?’ And he goes, ‘No problem. I’ve got it.’ But a lot of hard work goes into it. Plus, he’s a brilliant dude.”

Patrick Mahomes, the most prominent player in Bieniemy’s charge, had no trouble endorsing his coach as his team prepared for their journey to the Super Bowl.

“When you get a guy like EB, who puts in the time, who is a great leader of players and men and somebody that can really control and have a presence in any room he walks in, you understand why these other teams are looking at him to be their head coach. And so we obviously are focused on our goal right now, but we know, with who he is and how he operates, that he’ll have the opportunities to go places and continue to have success.”

We don’t know why nobody wanted Bieniemy (though we can certainly speculate), but Bieniemy and Reid have upped their offensive game plans this season with a great new wrinkle. Opposing teams are playing a ton of two-high safety coverage to try and keep Mahomes in check, and when the Chiefs see that, and they know the defense is one lighter in the box, they’re going to run the ball over and over. That’s what they did in their season-opening 34-20 win over the Texans (34 carries for 166 yards and a touchdown), and what they did in their 26-17 Week 6 win over the Bills that could easily be an AFC Championship game preview (46 carries for 245 yards and a touchdown). It’s a long way from the imagined narrative of the Chiefs’ offense that has Mahomes throwing 500-burgers on every defense he faces, but as Bieniemy said this week, you do whatever it takes to win. ANd you switch it up when you need to.

“Sometimes, professional sports have a tendency to think it’s all about the numbers and the egos,” he said. “Sometimes, I think people forget that we play a team game. This is what has made us special. Our guys are going to do whatever it needed to go out and win. Because when it’s all said and done, and we talk about this each and every week, it’s not about the numbers. It’s about the alphabet. And the only [letters in the alphabet] that matter in this industry are the ‘W’ and the ‘L.’

“Whatever we have to do to get that “W,” that’s all that matters. And then, you know what? We’re going to come back and put a game plan together for the following week, and we’re going to get it going, and get ready to go. Yes — ideally, we want all of our players to have all of the success that they can. But we do know this: If we can do this together, and do it for one another, and do it the right way, it’ll give us a chance to have a chance to pursue the goals we want to pursue.”

Another thing to point out. When Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce fumbled near the end of the first half against the Bills and the Bills took over, Kelce was furious with himself. Who took Kelce aside right after the play and told him to not let the mistake overwhelm him?

(NFL Game Pass)

This guy.

(NFL Game Pass)

Teams missed the boat when it came to Bieniemy this year. We don’t know what it will take for him to become the latest former Reid offensive coordinator to land a well-deserved head coaching opportunity (Matt Nagy in Chicago and Doug Pederson in Philadelphia were the last two), but all Bieniemy does is to continue to prove that when he does get the job, he’ll do his best to out-perform a lot of guys who have those positions now.