Eric Bieniemy might be better off without a head coaching job in 2020

Eric Bieniemy might be better off without a head coaching job in 2020 after all.

After seven seasons learning from Andy Reid on the sidelines with the Kansas City Chiefs, Eric Bieniemy has every reason to expect job offers to come his way. But for this one season only, he might actually be glad he ended up returning to the Chiefs for at least one more year.

Being a first-time head coach at the NFL level presents an incredible learning curve in itself, no matter how much experience the candidate might have. And that’s true in a normal season in the NFL. Given the uncertainty over everything these days, with doubts circling that the league will even be able to pull off their season as planned, this year’s new head coaches face an even steeper climb toward making their mark and seeing any improvement with their respective franchises.

It wasn’t so long ago that Bieniemy, who has served the last two years as the Chiefs offensive coordinator, was a red hot commodity who seemed assured of a head coaching role. In fact, it wouldn’t have surprised anyone to see a few teams fighting over the chance to hire Andy Reid’s latest disciple—especially such a charismatic leader of men like Bieniemy.

The interest was there, as every team with an opening ended up interviewing him other than the Dallas Cowboys. Unfortunately not a single job offer surfaced. Ron Rivera was recycled. So was Mike McCarthy. Joe Judge made the rare leap up from special teams coordinator, while Kevin Stefanski was the only OC who got such a promotion. Matt Rhule was the experimental college commodity.

For yet another offseason, Bieniemy was passed over for other candidates. A year ago, Bieniemy’s single year of coordinator experience at the pro level was to blame. This year, Bieniemy came with a Super Bowl title and teams still were not interested—or were too impatient to wait for the results.

At the time, the easiest column for NFL analysts to write was about the lunacy of Eric Bieniemy being forced to return to the Chiefs due to a lack of job offers. In the face of an embarrassing lack of diversity among the NFL’s head coaching ranks, Bieniemy was somehow being overlooked again and again—by multiple teams. Andy Reid said he was ready. His track record is incredible. His players absolutely love him. Bieniemy himself said he’s hungry for the opportunity.

Now that the dust has settled on the hiring process and this season is coming into view, however, Bieniemy might end up grateful for not getting a job—at least just yet.

If Bieniemy had been selected to become the new head coach of, say, the Carolina Panthers or the Washington, er, Football Team, any and all introductions would have been digital from the outset. He would have been thrown into a draft process that was being put together up until the actual event. His ability to evaluate his players, his coaches, his colleagues, his auxiliary staff—it all would have been foreign in some way or another.

For a coach who has been gifted with a preacher’s demeanor, the inability to share that passion, that fire that we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing on the sidelines or in press conferences, would be diminished. Add that to the list of cancelled or abbreviated activities and you’d have a frustrating first go-around in the league for Bieniemy—same as it will be for any new coach.

There’s no doubt that Bieniemy, if given a job, would have made the best of it and that his optimism would have still found its way forward despite the circumstances. However, the Chiefs offensive coordinator might find himself with smoother sailing by starting in 2021 rather than the present year.