Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes on how he’s been helped on and off the field by Eric Bieniemy
Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s time in Kansas City soon may be coming to an end.
Six NFL teams are searching for a new head coach, and Bieniemy is in hot demand. He has already interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons, as the team announced Monday, and the Detroit Lions, as the team said Tuesday.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the New York Jets have requested an interview. Ditto for the Los Angles Chargers, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Former ESPN reporter Josina Anderson said the Jaguars are trying to schedule an interview, too.
So there appears to be no shortage of interest in Bieniemy, who has been offensive coordinator for the Chiefs since 2018. In the past three seasons, the Chiefs have been in the top six in scoring each season. Bieniemy resume is deeper than that as The Star’s Sam Mellinger explained here.
During his weekly interview on KCSP (610 AM), Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes discussed why Bieniemy would be a good head coach.
“If you see how our offense has produced over these last few years he’s been one the most vital pieces of that,” Mahomes said. “Obviously I want him to be here, but I understand that he deserves a chance to go out there and coach his own team and run his own organization. I mean he’s a guy that will hold everybody in that organization accountable, he’s going to build the culture the right way. And obviously he knows how to call the plays and do that stuff and produce on the field, and so there’s no real negative about it, so I don’t understand why he wouldn’t get one (head coaching job) in this kind of cycle.”
Mahomes also discussed the impact Bieniemy has made on him on and off the field.
“First off, he taught me how to become a better person, which I think is more important anything. How to hold other people accountable, how to be the leader in the locker room and I think that’s super important for (any) quarterback,” Mahomes said. “And then on the field, he’s taught me a ton about protection, he’s taught me a ton about how to go about my business of taking the deep shot when it’s there and taking the check down and moving the chains and doing things like that.
“And someone who’s very involved in a game planning and calling the plays every single week, and he understands how the quarterback thinks and what we need to do to have success in the field, and I think that’s super important as a guy going into (a new job with) whatever quarterback that is.”
