Building one of the great coaching resumes in NFL history, Andy Reid has served as the Chiefs’ primary play-caller throughout his 13-season tenure. The three-time Super Bowl champion is coming back for the 2026 season, but Kansas City is making an awkward-looking transition at offensive coordinator.
Despite Matt Nagy not landing the Titans’ HC job — one for which he was a long-rumored candidate — the Chiefs rehired Eric Bieniemy as their OC. Kansas City did not conduct a thorough search, tabbing Bieniemy after his season as the Bears’ running backs coach. Bieniemy was the Chiefs’ OC before Nagy’s second stint in the role.
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Nagy is without a job presently, but it does not appear he and the Chiefs are on bad terms. Although the team is bringing back Bieniemy to replace Nagy, Reid said his previous OC had long planned to leave Kansas City after the 2025 season. Nagy turned down a Chiefs extension offer last year.
“I know everybody’s going to question everything and I get all that; it’s understandable. But Matt and I have a great relationship,” Reid said. “And here he sits, and before the season, right before the season even started here, I knew that he wanted an opportunity to have his own show.
“He’s been a head coach. He was Coach of the Year. I mean, all the things I’ve said about him, I still feel about him. There’s nothing different there. He deserves to have a head coaching job. And if not, it gives him an opportunity to go out and do his thing.”
By “have his own shown,” Reid is referring to calling plays on offense. Nagy served as a non-play-calling OC in Kansas City over the past three seasons. The Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII and ventured to Super Bowl LIX during Nagy’s second OC stint, but their offense took a step back, ranking 15th in scoring in those seasons. The steady decline of Travis Kelce, some misses at wide receiver and left tackle probably affected the Chiefs more than anything their non-play-calling OC did in that time, and Nagy has received considerable interest coming off the 2025 season.
Nagy interviewed for the Cardinals, Raiders and Ravens’ HC jobs, losing out to Robert Saleh — despite a close relationship with Titans GM Mike Borgonzi that looked to have him in or near the lead for that post — in Tennessee. However, the Eagles have since included the former Bears HC in their OC derby, interviewing him last week. Serving as a part-time Chiefs play-caller in 2017, Nagy called plays for the bulk of his Bears tenure. This included a Coach of the Year honor in 2018 and another playoff berth in 2020. While Chicago fired Nagy after the 2021 season, his guiding Mitch Trubisky to two playoff brackets has aged rather well.
It will be interesting to see if Nagy enters the mix for one of the OC jobs set to open, as the HC carousel produces destinations, or if he can land either the Cardinals or Raiders’ HC position. Bieniemy did not fare especially well leaving Kansas City for a play-calling role (in Washington) in 2023, but he is back in his comfort zone due to Nagy’s decision to leave.