The Chiefs have requested to interview Bears running backs coach Eric Bieniemy for their offensive coordinator vacancy, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Bienemy, 56, previously held that position from 2018 to 2022 and is expected to retake it in the coming weeks, according to Dianna Russini of The Athletic.
Kansas City made a few offensive staff changes at the end of their disappointing 2025 season. Wide receivers coach Connor Embree and running backs coach Todd Pinkston were both relieved of their duties, while the contract of offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was not renewed. That may have been the plan all along, as Nagy has attracted head coaching interest from the Cardinals, Ravens, Raiders, and Titans. He seems to be a finalist for the job in Tennessee.
Bienemy, who was the Chiefs’ running backs coach for the five years before he was promoted to offensive coordinator, took a dual assistant head coach/offensive coordinator role with the Commanders in 2023 and UCLA in 2024. Neither team’s offense excelled with Bienemy in Charger. The Commanders ranked among the NFL’s bottom-10 offenses in 2023, while UCLA averaged just 18.4 points in 2024, the third-fewest in the Big Ten.
Bienemy’s next stop was Chicago, where he was hired by new head coach Ben Johnson to lead the running back room. Bienemy has excelled in that role. Six-year veteran D’Andre Swift has put up career-best numbers in the volume and efficiency, while seventh-round rookie Kyle Monangai has the most rushing yards by a No. 2 running back in the league.
The Chiefs’ offense in general has regressed since Bienemy’s departure, but their run game has especially struggled. After ranking seventh and eight in yards per carry during the final two years of Bienemy’s first OC stint, the Chiefs have ranked 13th, 29th, and 20th in the following three. Bringing Bienemy back could help re-establish the ground game in Kansas City, which may take some pressure off of the air attack and lead to more efficiency there, too.
If you need to interview a guy that used to work for you then I guess he’s not the right guy. Especially when he was an IC for you and didn’t call plays. He went from a hot commodity and next new HC somewhere to recycling back to same position at same place years later.
@Polish ORRRRR they had to request said interview because he was still under contract with his current team, Da Bears.
Sometimes there is an easy answer.
Coloredpaper- LOL Bet he loves conspiracy theories
Foolish Hammer
Huh? Teams interview guys they currently have on their payroll all the time, why would they not do one for someone that was formerly on their payroll?
I bet if you quit whatever job you have and in a couple years come back for it, theyll interview you. Itd be stupid not to
Need to get that ground game going. Eric could help with that.
So could Kenneth Walker or Love in the draft.
Will Howie swoop in and get what the Offense needs?
Makes sense. Bieniemy is known for being the guy who instills discipline and attention to detail. If you’re an offense-first head coach who mostly calls plays, you still need someone to hammer in those things.
I hope the Bears keep him. Swift never ran with as much confidence.
Swift will be a cap casualty in the offseason, plenty of better RBs available for less than half his salary
I’m not the biggest Swift fan, but who are all these better backs who will cost less than half his salary?
Bears are against the Cap with all the upgrades they made this year. They have some in house options available. Monoghai was excellent. Ian Wheeler could be signed and I liked Hankins to be a big power back before he got injured and lost for the year. I fully expect them to draft a RB. They SHOULD trade down their first round pick to avoid first round money and get more picks. Most of the picks will be used on defense but a RB will be an early must but not needed at #1. Hopefully we’ve seen the last of Johnson and Homer. Swift will just be too expensive for next year I’m afraid. Poles will have to do some renegotiating and Cap cutting this off season I think.
Thanks for the free 3rd rd comp picks
That doesn’t pertain to coordinators.
They could still get one for Cunningham.
True but that wasn’t mentioned in this article.
I still can’t figure out why nobody has hired him yet. He’s totally qualified.
Wait a minute
Predictable but probably the right call for them. They need a competent RB to get that run game going, especially since Kermit is unlikely to be as mobile next season.
I literally hate this. Time for a fresh outside perspective. I don’t think Pat was a big fan to boot. There is sooo many better options available and Andy’s loyalty is misplaced at this point. Hasn’t had success as an OC elsewhere. Definitely not the answer.
He was an NFL OC for literally one season elsewhere and it was with a bereft Washington team that committed to starting Sam Howell before he got there.
He actually did a pretty good job in Washington but the defense was so bad that Howell ended up taking a beating at the end of the year trying to come back in games.
I was just wondering what happened to him the other day with all these HC openings… He was the hottest commodity that didn’t land a HC gig.
Didn’t care enough to Google and bam…