It was one other yr through which the Chiefs’ offense regarded dominant en path to their second Super Bowl in 4 seasons. Missouri’s solely NFL workforce has hosted a convention championship sport every of the final 5 seasons and was defeated in regulation zero instances. Patrick Mahomes will get the spoils as the perfect quarterback within the sport and conversations have already begun at 27 that he’s already a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Andy Reid went from a strong coach and nice particular person to being thought of among the many best to ever tow a sideline. Where’s the confetti for Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy?
The window for Bienemy to be a head coach in 2023 has closed
With Jonathan Gannon being named the Arizona Cardinals head coach on Tuesday, one other offseason NFL head teaching carousel journey has accomplished, with Bienemy interviewing and never being supplied a head teaching job within the NFL, whereas these with much less expertise and fewer success leap the road. It’s not a matter of whether or not Bienemy could possibly be a head coach. Does anybody see a yr one on any workforce beneath him going as badly as Nathaniel Hackett’s tenure in Denver? If you’d somewhat have the present Jets’ offensive coordinator operating your workforce, be my visitor. On planet Earth, Bienemy wouldn’t let any scenario deteriorate that shortly. And it’s clear that chance isn’t going to occur with out one thing drastic altering for him.
There seem like two choices for Bienemy to get into the NFL’s head teaching fraternity. First can be the upper danger, greater reward possibility of leaving the Chiefs. Leaving a perfect scenario in Kansas City to run an offense would separate his accomplishments from Reid, as a substitute of sharing or gifting away a majority of the credit score. FOX’s Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen shouted out Reid for the selections that led to the workforce’s double-digit Super Bowl LVII comeback over the Eagles, not the workforce’s offensive coordinator. Going to a workforce just like the Commanders, who’ve proven public curiosity in buying Bienemy’s companies, would expose his skills as a play caller. Washington head coach Ron Rivera is clearly a defensive-minded coach, leaving Bienemy on an island with regards to operating the offense. With a good quantity of expertise within the nation’s capital, how he’d elevate Sam Howell can be an incredible signal of how he’d carry out as a head coach. Then once more, others have been employed with much less proof, however that’s simply not the truth for Bienemy.
The solely different possibility, after a number of head-coaching cycles handed him by, can be outlasting Reid’s tenure in Kansas City and taking on for his present boss — getting Mahomes and Reid at hand him the job as finest they will. Bienemy clearly has the right help from Kansas City’s entrance workplace. And with no indicators of Reid slowing down at 64, that is perhaps a protracted wait, regardless of how strongly the two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach thinks of his star pupil. It’s an odd juxtaposition, as a result of Reid was named the Eagles’ head coach over twenty years in the past with none play-calling expertise. Bienemy doubtless gained’t get the identical leeway, and he’s turn out to be the poster boy (man) for the inequities within the NFL’s head teaching ranks.
What’s the explanation Bienemy retains getting handed over?
The record of allegations from Bienemy’s time as a operating again at Colorado to changing into a collegiate coach is troubling, together with allegedly grabbing a feminine parking attendant by the neck and threatening her in 1993. Not having an ideal document is cause sufficient to not rent him as a head coach, however let’s not faux he’d be the one one with an unsavory previous who has had the prospect to helm an NFL workforce. Do we overlook Urban Meyer that shortly? Some puzzled if Bienemy would leap again to the faculty ranks when the Buffaloes’ job opened up just a few months again. Colorado ended up hiring Deion Sanders. Even so, Jim Harbaugh’s flirtation with going again to the NFL and leaving Michigan behind has rather more credence, as a result of he’s led a workforce to a Super Bowl earlier than his present stint in Ann Arbor. Bienemy doesn’t have any heading teaching expertise on his resume.
Pretending Bienemy’s circumstances will probably be a lot totally different subsequent yr when one other teaching carousel begins is silly. He did greater than sufficient to show he was worthy by NFL requirements a very long time in the past to be one of many league’s 32 head coaches. And he was handed over greater than a dozen instances because the Chiefs’ 2020 Super Bowl victory. Even if Kansas City doesn’t win one other title subsequent season, who doubts its offense gained’t look spectacular? And that will probably be partially attributable to Bienemy.
On paper, leaving the Chiefs for a elevate and a brand new alternative would do the trick. Then it’s a must to do not forget that the individuals hiring head coaches gained’t change, even when Bienemy leads Washington to playoff success in a neater convention. And if none with vacancies over the past three years would rent him, he’ll have to attend for Clark Hunt to advertise him. And Bienemy will probably be effectively overdue when that day comes.