The Kansas City Chiefs were not going to keep Matt Nagy as the offensive coordinator beyond this season. Not only was his contract up, but he was attracting major interest from the Tennessee Titans for their head coaching job. The mad dash to find a new leading man offense brought the Chiefs back to Eric Bieniemy.
Bieniemy's stock has fallen since leaving Kansas City, as he went from the hottest OC that everyone wanted to hire to a fired college play-caller and position coach in the span of just three years. That hasn't done much to diminish his overall worth in the eyes of Andy Reid and Kansas City, however.
With Reid hoping to bring back the same pixie dust that helped the Chiefs turn into a nigh-unstoppable juggernaut when Patrick Mahomes was ripping the rest of the league to shreds, Bieniemy was re-hired by the Chiefs as Nagy's offensive coordinator replacement.
Between Bieniemy's return to Kansas City and the Chiefs' hiring of former Dolphins offensive coordinator Chad O'Shea to coach the wide receivers, the makings of a huge change within the offensive coaching staff are officially set in motion. Time will tell if this ends up being the right move.
Chiefs re-hire Eric Bieniemy as offensive coordinator
Bieniemy left the Chiefs after years of coming agonizingly close to becoming a head coach, hoping that being in full control of the Washington Commanders' offense as OC and assistant head coach would make him more attractive. Instead, Washington ranked 25th in scoring and he was not retained by Dan Quinn.
Bieniemy was named to the same position at UCLA in 2024, but he was canned after ranking a putrid 126th in points per game. Just when all hope seemed lost, Bears head coach Ben Johnson named Bieniemy as his running backs coach. Bieniemy oversaw a quality season out of D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai.
This hire can go one of two ways. The pessimistic side will look to Reid and Kansas City again prioritizing familiarity over innovation, bringing back someone who hasn't coordinated a successful pro offense in three years over some outsider.
The optimistic side, however, will look at Bieniemy reuniting with Mahomes as the secret ingredient that can restore the dynastic feel of the Kansas City passing attack. Where Nagy faltered by being overly conservative, Bieniemy might be able to supercharge a stale attack that needs his brand of coaching know-how.