Eric Bieniemy is back in Kansas City, and for Chiefs fans, it feels like more than just a reunion-it feels like a reset. After three seasons away, including a challenging year in which the offense sputtered and the team missed the playoffs, Bieniemy returns as offensive coordinator with a clear mission: to reignite the fire that once made this unit one of the league’s most feared.
At his introductory press conference on Wednesday, Bieniemy didn’t mince words. This isn’t just a job for him-it’s home.
“If Big Red ever picks up the phone,” he said, referring to head coach Andy Reid, “that’s the only person that you’ll say, ‘Hey, you know what? It may be time to return home.’”
That bond with Reid runs deep. Bieniemy first joined the Chiefs in 2013 as the running backs coach, part of Reid’s original staff in Kansas City.
Over the next five years, he helped lay the foundation for what would become a juggernaut offense. When Matt Nagy left to coach the Bears, Bieniemy stepped into the coordinator role-and for the next five seasons, the Chiefs’ offense thrived.
But despite his success, Bieniemy’s coaching journey took a puzzling turn. Despite being a hot name in head coaching circles, he was repeatedly passed over.
Eventually, he took a lateral move to Washington, hoping that a fresh start as Ron Rivera’s offensive coordinator would open new doors. It didn’t.
Rivera was fired after the 2023 season, and Bieniemy’s next stop-a brief stint as associate head coach at UCLA-was equally short-lived. By 2025, he was back to coaching running backs in Chicago.
That could’ve been the end of the story. Instead, it became a turning point.
Working under Ben Johnson with the Bears, Bieniemy found himself back in a creative offensive environment, and the buzz around him began to build again. Now, he returns to Kansas City not just with a familiar playbook, but with new perspective, new tools, and a deeper understanding of himself as a coach.
“I think [the time away] has helped me in a number of ways,” Bieniemy said. “When you do it on your own, you’ve gotta find creative ways to implement a system. You learn a lot about yourself-the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
That self-awareness is key. Bieniemy talked about learning how to better communicate, how to earn buy-in from players, and how to stay open to new ideas.
“All ideas are not bad ideas,” he said. “We just need to be receptive to them.”
Still, for all the growth, Bieniemy made it clear: he’s not coming back to reinvent the wheel. He’s coming back to get it rolling again.
“There are some things about me that have changed,” he said, “but more than anything, EB is EB. We will still be disciplined and detailed in everything and how we handle our business. There’s a standard of performance, there’s a standard of excellence that’ll be expected.”
That message likely resonates in the locker room. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce have always spoken highly of Bieniemy’s leadership, and his return brings a familiar voice back into the mix-one that helped shape their rise to stardom.
For a team that’s grown used to postseason football, missing the playoffs this year was a jolt. But with Bieniemy back on the headset, there’s a sense that the Chiefs are ready to get back to their roots: fast, aggressive, and relentlessly detailed on offense.
And if that happens, the rest of the league better be ready-because the Chiefs might just be getting started again.