When news of the Commanders’ Kliff Kingsbury hire came out, questions were raised about the future of incumbent offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. An answer has emerged regarding the latter, and he will not be in Washington for the 2024 campaign. 
Bieniemy will not be retained, new head coach Dan Quinn said at his introductory press conference. As a result, the longtime Chiefs OC will once again be on the move after a single campaign spent in the nation’s capital. Kingsbury was brought in on Sunday, and he will take charge of Washington’s offense. Quinn added that he and Bieniemy spoke earlier today, and the former offered well wishes for the latter in his next NFL opportunity.
Bieniemy spent 10 seasons under Andy Reid in Kansas City, including five as offensive coordinator. That gig did not involve play-calling duties, but he did take on a position which involved full control of the offense last offseason by joining the Commanders. The move from a unit led by Patrick Mahomes to one featuring Sam Howell at quarterback, a suspect offensive line and a skill-position corps lacking in proven options (aside from wideout Terry McLaurin) led to questions about how much success Bieniemy would be able to have in 2023.
On the other hand, Ron Rivera was widely seen as a lame-duck coach entering the campaign, giving Bieniemy a potential avenue to a head coaching opportunity. Rivera was indeed dismissed at the end of the season, and owner Josh Harris confirmed Bieniemy would be a candidate to replace him. The latter interviewed with Washington, but he was not among the team’s list of finalists, putting his own future in doubt.
Quinn is now officially in place, and the Commanders are prepared to move forward with new-look coaching and front office staffs. The team’s offense will likely have a new quarterback as its focal point by the start of next season, as the Commanders hold the No. 2 overall pick. Kingsbury’s hire has led to speculation Washington could make a push to select USC’s Caleb Williams (with whom Kingsbury worked this season), though drafting the former Heisman winner remains a likely move on the part of the Bears with the top pick in April’s draft.
Regardless of how Washington moves forward, Bieniemy will now become a late entrant on the coordinator scene. A number of teams have already filled their OC vacancies. That includes the Raiders, who had an agreement with Kingsbury fall through and have since tapped Luke Getsy to lead their offense. Presuming Greg Roman‘s new Chargers position is confirmed to be offensive coordinator, only the Seahawks remain amongst teams with an opening which has not at least reportedly been filled.
The Commanders ranked 24th and 25th in total and scoring offense, respectively, this season. Those totals paint a different picture than the one which was in place earlier in the season (Howell led the league in passing at one point), and they of course will not help Bieniemy’s stock. Given his track record with the Chiefs – whose offense struggled without him, particularly early in the campaign – however, he could find a landing spot relatively soon.
Always felt curious that he would go take an OC job elsewhere when the situation was a lame duck HC who was never going to keep his job long with new ownership. When you add in that the team was committed to starting a fifth round pick who’d made one career start and a dicey offensive line, it was never going to be a great chance to succeed. Looks like he’ll end up an advisor somewhere for a season. KC’s offense sure looked a lot sloppier without him.
I wasn’t surprised to see him go there, especially with the Rivera situation because it would theoretically put him in an easier position to move up to HC. I am kind of surprised that they didn’t stick with him. I felt like he did a pretty good job with Howell (the TD:INT rate needs to come down). It is interesting a guy that has done that well and nobody wants him. Is he too old school?
Bienemy did not respond to the situation and overused Powell’s passing abilities, allowing opponent DC to baffle and sack Powell all the way down the stretch. The Commie/Redskin offense should have been run first, with play action and surprise rollouts taking advantage of Howell’s big arm.
Bienemy is probably never HC material, and may have difficulty finding another OC gig.
You can’t be run first when your defense gives up the most points in football.
Plus Howell was never the answer and he and EB were sacrificial lambs in a tanking for Williams effort.
The Commies weren’t tanking. Rivera wanted to come back for another year under new ownership. Tank only started at trade deadline when the two starting star DE were traded away.
Maybe he couldn’t get a real OC job elsewhere? Like were seeing now.
Did Washington block any requests for interviews as OC? Doing so would’ve been a dick move.
I believe they did as soon as pierce became coach of raiders he wanted to interview bieniemy
I hope not, as Bienemy might have got that gig. Pierce is a strong HC/leader of men so Bienemy might have been fine as a lieutenant there.
The two would have aligned on train hard/practice hard/play hard.
No the Commanders did not block any request as they were actually hoping he would have found a landing spot. If Eric Bieniemy was to be hired away from the Commanders to another team, the Commanders would have received two 3rd round compensatory picks for the loss of a minority coach.
That would have provided the Commanders this year with 1- 1st, 2- 2nd, 4- 3rd, and 1- 4th round pick. That would be 8 picks in the first 105 of the draft, as it stands right now.
I thought they had to be employed for 2 years by the former team?
Hawktattoo
You may be absolutely correct however, I thought the NFL revised the rule in 2020 as an incentive. Maybe that rule was just to hire?
You might be right also..I’m not totally sure, but thought I had read that.
I think it is 2 years because I saw something that Tampa won’t get comp pick for Canales since he was only there 1 year.
Also, it has to be for a promotion not a lateral move so it would have to be for a Head Coaching position to get draft capital. Also, I believe it would be for the following years draft.
Just the fact that they’re firing him now after the majority of open coaching gigs is kind of a kick in the balls.
Everytime I see his name in print, Chris Berman pops into my head saying,”Eric sleeping with Bieniemy”
Yes, that was an actual call he did, and for some stupid reason – Ill never not remember it.
I think Barnone below is correct – he probably gets knocked too much for coaching with Reid and Maholmes, but he did a great job within his circumstances in DC.
New York jets coach 2025?
From the reporting in Washington, he rubbed some players the wrong way starting as early as training camp. That could easily be the veterans being lazy on a non-competitive team but doesn’t bode well for a guy wanting to be a HC that he couldn’t get them to buy-in. It’s always noteworthy when the players are quiet when a coach is let go.
I think the numbers suggest that he stubbornly stuck to the scheme he wanted to run even though the talent level in Washington did not support that. 5th Round QB and terrible OL, yet highest throwing percentage in the league, was a bad combo and he did little to adapt throughout the season.
Hope he sticks somewhere else and uses the last year as a learning opportunity.
He was the OC of some dominant Chiefs teams that didn’t seem to have an issue playing for him. I trust that track record over players for a joke of a franchise who don’t want to do what it takes to win.
He was OC but not play caller. Big difference.
Doug Peterson was OC and not play caller. He has a ring.
He has a ring because he called the Philly Philly, because he called plays.
When he was OC under Andy Reid in KC he didn’t call plays and had the same criticism.
This guy just can’t get a break.
He should go mack to his Alma mater, Colorado and help Neon Deion figure things out
It would be fun!
Don’t think that is happening with his history there
Someone else said this to me today and maybe a few weeks ago
Still though, some of it was minor
It piled up, but minor
Didn’t the school ban him from campus for a year?
He called games like he was playing Madden. Howell did pretty well for the first 10 weeks under the circumstances, but opponents figured out quickly EB called a lot of pass plays, had a bad Oline and didn’t make adjustments. – Easy to game plan for.
EB will never be a HC. He rubs people the wrong way. Not easy to get along with. You have to be a genius to make that work (e.g., Belichick, Parcells) and EB is not a genius.
Sounds like you know him. What are your personal experiences either him, or are you just “rubbing me the wrong way?”
To everybody giving him sh*t about throwing so much with a 5th round lackluster QB, remember that with that defense they were ALWAYS playing from behind in WASH. He had to throw the ball that much. But from what has come out as to why he’s never been HC material, I guess he interviews very poorly and as far as leadership goes he is lacking. But those are always from “anonymous” sources of course. He may benefit from taking 2024 off and see where next coaching cycle takes him.
Bieniemy might as well move on to the football spring league.
I’m old enough to remember when EB not getting a HC job was considered a racism. The fact that he will have a hard time finding himself an OC job this year might be more indicative of the narrative that he was propped up by Reid & Mahomes.