Mr. Bieniemy Goes to Washington – what it could mean for both parties

February 20, 2023

by Steve Thomas

After weeks of rumors and a myriad of interviews with other candidates, Washington finally hired former Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy to serve as the team’s new Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator.  Bieniemy has been a candidate for many heading coaching jobs over the years, but has lost out for various reasons, and now moves to Washington to be in full command of the team’s offense for head coach Ron Rivera.

Bieniemy, who was born in Louisiana and attended high school in the Los Angeles, California area, was a running back at the University of Colorado from 1987 – 1990, during which time he ran for 3,940 yards (#1 in team history), 41 touchdowns (also #1 in team history), and 4320 all-purpose yards (#3 in team history).  He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 1991 draft.  Bieniemy spent four seasons with the Chargers, then moved to the Cincinnati Bengals from 1995 – 1998.  He finished out his playing career with the Eagles in 1999.  In total, Bieniemy played in 142 games, with 1 start, and had 387 carries for 1589 yards, 4.1 yards per carry, and 11 touchdowns, and also had 146 receptions for 1223 yards, and 8.4 yards per reception.  Bieniemy also returned punts and kicks, with 37 punt returns for 7.5 yards per return, and 79 kick returns for 20.5 yards per return and 1 touchdown.

After his playing career ended, he went back to the University of Colorado to serve as the running backs coach from 2001 to 2002, then moved to UCLA in the same capacity from 2003 to 2005.  The Minnesota Vikings hired him to serve as their running backs coach from 2006 to 2010.  He then went back to the University of Colorado as the offensive coordinator for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.  Then, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid moved from Philadelphia to the Chiefs and brought Bieniemy with him as the running backs coach.  Reid then promoted Bieniemy to offensive coordinator in 2018 when Matt Nagy left to become the Chicago Bears head coach.  Bieniemy remained in that capacity until his contract expired at the end of this past season.

Bieniemy nearly always achieved outstanding results during his tenure with the Chiefs.  The following chart shows the Chiefs’ ranking for rushing yards per carry from 2013 to 2017 (his years as the running backs coach) and the leading rusher(s) by yards per carry each year:

Year	Team yards per carry	Leading rushers
2013	5	Jamaal Charles
2014	5	Jamaal Charles
2015	4	Alex Smith, Charcandrick West, Spencer Ware
2016	17	Spencer Ware
2017	2	Alex Smith, Kareem Hunt

What’s notable about this list is that, for one thing, 2016 was the only year that the Chiefs weren’t in the top five.  More impressively, though, none of these runners were elite-level prospects coming out of college.  Jamaal Charles was a third round pick, Charcandrick West was an undrafted free agent, Spencer Ware was a sixth round pick, Kareem Hunt was a third round pick out of Toledo, and Alex Smith was obviously a quarterback.  Certainly, all had talent, but these weren’t players selected at the top of the draft who were expected and/or destined to excel.  Charles and West essentially had their careers ended by ACL tears, and Ware’s career was impacted by an ankle injury, so none of them lasted long.  Regardless, though, it’d be disingenuous to not give Bieniemy a significant amount of credit for the consistency of performance over five seasons.

This next chart shows the team rankings for points scored, total yards, total passing yards, and rushing yards per carry during Bieniemy’s tenure as the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2022:

Year	Pts scored	Total yds	Pass yds	Rushing yds/carry
2018	1	1	3	6
2019	5	6	5	20
2020	6	1	1	12
2021	4	3	4	10
2022	1	1	1	11

These stats show what everyone should already know, which is that Bieniemy’s offenses during these years where elite in terms of points scored and passing, although it fell off a fairly significant amount in rushing results.

On the surface, Bieniemy seems to be the ideal candidate for Washington’s vacant coordinator position – he’s achieved quality results and turned multiple good but not great prospects into solid pros.  He has a reputation as a serious, no-nonsense coach who relates well with his players.  He certainly has had a running-centric career arc, but the Chiefs with Mahomes under center have been one of the best, if not the best, passing teams in the league.  Kansas City has been the rare team that can for the most part succeed on both the ground and in the air, and Bieniemy was one of the architects of that success.  Washington hasn’t been able to bring a winner of this caliber into the building for a long time, including Rivera.  That’s undeniably a win for the team.

No one can debate these results; the Chiefs have been spectacular, consistently an elite team through most of Bieniemy’s 10 years with the franchise, including two Super Bowl wins.  However, I wouldn’t be honest and impartial without pointing out some of the question marks and the negatives.  Legitimate questions stand out about the role Bieniemy played in all of this success – after all, he’s worked for a hall of fame-level head coach, Andy Reid, all of these years, and he’s also been the beneficiary of a first round pick, future hall of fame quarterback in Patrick Mahomes.  Reid, not Bieniemy, supposedly called the plays each season, and it’s Reid who has a career .641 winning percentage as a head coach, plus 22 playoff wins.

Furthermore, Bieniemy has interviewed an astounding 16 times for head coaching jobs with 15 different teams, and has not received a a single offer.  Many other Reid assistants have taken that step over the years, including Sean McDermott, John Harbaugh, Matt Nagy, Doug Pederson, Todd Bowles, Pat Shurmur, Leslie Frazier, Steve Spagnuolo, Brad Childress, and Rivera.  The reason(s) Bieniemy is an exception is a bit of a mystery, with guesses ranging the gamut from racism to doubts about his coaching abilities, his interviewing skills, and more.  I was told a couple of years ago that Bieniemy typically didn’t interview well.  It’s impossible to know the truth at this point, but I think it’s a legitimate concern.  Why hasn’t he been good enough for a head coaching job despite all of his accomplishments?

Also, we have to acknowledge some of Bieniemy’s behavioral concerns from years ago.  He had multiple public brushes with the law between 1988 and 1993, between the ages of 18 and 25.  I’m not going to waste too much space here going over these events in detail, except to say they allegedly included a bar fight, failure to appear in court for a case involving traffic charges and driving on a suspended license, interfering with a firefighter, failure to attend a firefighting training session, harassing a female parking attendant, and driving under the influence.  Taken in total, this is a legitimate concern; on the other hand, to the best of my knowledge, he’s had a completely clean record for the last 30 years.  Personally, I wouldn’t hold these alleged transgressions against him for purposes of selecting him for a football coaching position at age 53.

So, while it’s impossible to know why Bieniemy hasn’t received any offers, clearly the NFL has a problem with some combination of these issues.  And make no mistake: no matter what fans may talk themselves into, this position is a lateral move for Bieniemy.  He can have all the titles he wants – Jack Del Rio took over as head coach for Rivera two seasons ago when Rivera was undergoing cancer treatment – but at the end of the day, he remains an offensive coordinator.  Yes, he probably has more authority in Washington, and is now the “assistant head coach”, but titles are just titles.  He is coordinating Washington’s offense, and Rivera is in charge.  Also, assistants in high demand and who have options don’t come to teams that are supposedly for sale and in which an under-achieving head coach is entering his fourth season.  That’s the opposite of a stable situation.

Regardless, though, Bieniemy is now in Washington, and that’s a good thing.  He’s been with a consistently winning organization and has played a key role multiple Super Bowl teams.  That kind of experience in invaluable and can only help an organization that’s been mostly down in the dumps since a certain tiny, unstable, abusive, narcissistic tornado blew into town in 1999.  I’ve spent time on The Hog Sty Podcast recently questioning Rivera’s intentions with this offense, because while we’ve heard that Washington now wants to be a running team, frankly it isn’t a great running team.  My principal concern is that Rivera needed to bring in a coordinator who can (1) conform to Rivera’s desired offensive strategy, and (2) get the most out of his players.  Based on the Chiefs’ success in nearly every offensive area, Bieniemy might just be the rare coach who can do the latter.  He doesn’t seem to be a coach who’s wedded to a specific system, but rather is one who can get the most out of the talent on the roster.

Washington has talent in the receiving group in Terry McLaurin, who is a 2023 Pro Bowl selection and fast becoming known as one of the top receivers in the game, and 2022 rookie Jahan Dotson, who showed significant potential.  Beyond that, though, Washington’s offense has some serious needs, including a legitimate plus-level quarterback, whether the inexperienced 2022 fifth round pick Sam Howell or someone else, plus a complete overhaul of the offensive line, and a tight end.  Bieniemy certainly won’t have final say over the specific players the team chooses to bring in to fill those needs, but he’s may be the coordinator best suited to get the most out of the players under his charge.

All in all, despite the questions, Washington is lucky to get a coordinator like Bieniemy.  Ultimate success rides on far more than an offensive coordinator – the owner needs to leave, and his successor must install a winning-first, professional culture, or else nothing is going to change regardless of the coaching staff.  Plus, I have my doubts about whether Bieniemy or any of these coaches will still be in Washington for 2024 and beyond, but that’s another story for another day.  For now and the immediate 2023 future, the team for once did about as well as could be to bring in in a talented, winning coordinator.  As for Bieniemy, regardless of how long his new job lasts, it is an opportunity to prove that he wasn’t just riding on Andy Reid’s coattails for the past 10 years.  I suspect that he’ll be highly motivated to do just that.  These are reasons enough for fans to be happy.