For the third straight season, Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is a top head coaching candidate. And for the third straight season, the ex-CU running back and offensive coordinator may somehow get left out in the cold.
If Bieniemy returns to Kansas City in 2021, it would be a fumble by a league that already has a glaring lack of head coaching diversity (only two Black men). It would also be a missed opportunity by the six franchises looking to fill their vacancies.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes acknowledged as much in a local radio appearance earlier this week, saying Bieniemy’s “track record speaks for itself.”
“The type of man he is, the way he can control and be a leader of the locker room, the way that he coaches and schemes he brings to us (is all crucial),” Mahomes told KCSP in Kansas City. “If he doesn’t (get hired), people are crazy.”
To date, Bieniemy’s interviewed with the Jaguars, Lions, Falcons, Chargers and Jets, and reportedly has another interview coming with the Texans after Kansas City’s season ends. But once again, the candidacy of the 13-year NFL coaching vet (his first 10 were as running backs coach for the Vikings and Chiefs) is being asterisked by his team’s success.
The critics wonder how much of the 51-year-old’s accomplishments are a result of working with future Hall of Fame coach Andy Reid, who is the Chiefs’ primary play-caller. Along the same vein, they also ask if Bieniemy’s resume is largely due to having a once-in-a-generation quarterback in Mahomes who is surrounded by a bevy of All-Pro weapons (i.e. Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill).
In addition to those doubts, Bieniemy’s candidacy is being held back by logistics.
With the Chiefs set to make a deep playoff run for a third straight year, the teams that are seriously interested in him will have to wait to make the official hire as other top coaching candidates get scooped up in the coming weeks. A team really has to believe Bieniemy is their guy — and be confident they’re actually going to get him — before taking the risk of holding out to hire him until after Kansas City’s probable Super Bowl appearance Feb. 7.
Right now, Bieniemy has a lot of choices on the table. Perhaps in the end, he’ll end up having none at all. Perhaps he decides the offers he has in front of him after Kansas City’s season ends aren’t the right fit, especially considering the likelihood he’ll again be a top head coaching candidate next year.
But one thing is for sure: for the six downtrodden teams currently in the market, Bieniemy is worth taking whatever perceived risk that comes with his hire — even if that hire is preceded by a three-week wait.
— Kyle Newman, The Denver Post
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