What it means if Chiefs turn back to Eric Bieniemy when they need fresh approach
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chiefs reportedly plan to rehire Eric Bieniemy as offensive coordinator.
- Hiring signals Reid trusts familiar staff rather than seek radical innovation.
- Chiefs need new offensive concepts and perspectives to regain scoring edge.
As this is being typed Tuesday afternoon, Eric Bieniemy’s return to Kansas City as the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator is not at all official but sure appears imminent, per a number of national outlets citing anonymous sources.
Assuming that it comes to pass, the return of the former OC under whom the franchise finished first, fifth, sixth, fourth and first in the NFL in scoring nonetheless looms as polarizing.
Because while those numbers at least superficially suggest waking up the echoes of those dynamic days, the anticipated hiring comes when the Chiefs seem stranded in the past and more in need of fresh approaches than turning back the clock.
On the surface, anyway, bringing Bieniemy back appears to reject what data and the eye test screamed last season: that the schemes of head coach Andy Reid, the play-caller and architect of the offense, have grown predictable and stale over time.
No matter how much people want to blame the departing Matt Nagy, or how Reid professes that the offense has been off just a tick, a significant part of why the Chiefs the last three seasons went 15th, 15th and 21st in scoring has a more holistic cause.
This would-be hire suggests Reid, the fourth-winningest coach in NFL history, thinks otherwise. And, to be sure, one 6-11 season after seven straight AFC Championship Game appearances and three Super Bowl triumphs doesn’t mean his ways and views suddenly are deficient.
But there’s a fine line between a groove and a rut, and a thin one between being stubborn and resolute, and this seems quite a test of that.
Because at an inflection point when the Chiefs need more imagination in both their offense and overall approach, they seem to have summoned little in the process of hastily going after Bieniemy — most recently the Chicago Bears’ running backs coach after lasting one year as the Washington Commanders’ offensive coordinator and another as UCLA’s assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.
Look, nothing says Bieniemy can’t provide a spark or infuse some original content and offer something fresh in those ways. Moreover, his flux in those other jobs doesn’t diminish what stands as a key distinction here: how he fits and can help extend Reid’s vision.
And it’s also worth noting that the most pivotal hire Reid has made since putting together his original staff here in 2013 was bringing in Steve Spagnuolo as defensive coordinator after firing Bob Sutton following a 37-31 loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game to end the 2018 season.
The parallel: Reid had known Spagnuolo for decades, starting in earnest when Reid was an assistant coach at Mizzou and Spagnuolo was a frequent visitor. That led to Reid making Spagnuolo one of his first hires when he was putting together his inaugural Philadelphia Eagles staff in 1999.
“I needed people there that I could trust; that’s what you do when you’re a young coach,” Reid said in 2019. “And I trusted him with everything.”
So much so that he brought him to Kansas City despite the fact that Spagnuolo’s last defense with the Giants had finished 27th in points allowed and he’d been out of football for a full season.
At the time, it was easy to be skeptical about a choice that became fundamental to the Chiefs’ dynastic run. But engaging the circle of trust proved to be just the right path.
In seven seasons with the Chiefs, six of Spagnuolo’s defenses have finished in the top 10 in points allowed. For all the glory Patrick Mahomes has enabled in that time, it’s doubtful that the Chiefs would have played in five Super Bowls and won three of them without Spagnuolo.
But it wasn’t just familiarity that Spagnuolo delivered. He was, and remains, known for his innovation.
Bieniemy, who played for Reid in Philly in 1999 and joined his Chiefs staff as running backs coach in 2013, certainly figures to help the Chiefs revive their running game — which ranked 25th in the league in yards for the 2025 season.
And much is being made of his tendency to get in player’s grills from time to time:
“He’s going to hold you accountable even whenever you don’t really want to hold yourself accountable,” Mahomes said at training camp in 2023 while that aspect of Bieniemy’s approach was surfacing as an issue in Washington.
While Bieniemy should bring a certain edge, I don’t think the Chiefs have been ailing from an absence of that since he left.
For instance, jarring as some of their offensive penalties have been the last few seasons, the reality is that in 96 games with Bieniemy as the OC, the Chiefs averaged 2.79 offensive penalties a game for 23.14 yards.
In 58 games in the three years since Bieniemy’s departure, the Chiefs averaged 3.12 penalties for 25 yards.
As for turnovers, the Chiefs committed 14 and 15 in 17 regular-season games over the last two seasons — fewer per regular-season game than in any of Bieniemy’s five seasons as offensive coordinator.
Beyond better luck with injuries — a reality for every team but a particular issue for the Chiefs this past season — their greatest need is a new way of looking at things. Not tearing it all up, but augmenting through new perspectives.
Because he used the word accountable a few times, much has been made from parsing Mahomes’ words of last week. Some saw what he said as advocating for Bieniemy as Nagy’s departure for a still-unknown job came into focus.
It’s understandable why the word popped, and perhaps he was lending an endorsement.
But something entirely different stood out to me.
In the middle of his words, Mahomes said he hoped for someone “to bring new ideas every single day. That’s something that we have to continue to do if you want to continue to be great in this league … You have to continue to evolve.”
Just how much turning back to Bieniemy would engage that remains to be seen at another pivotal point for Reid’s Chiefs.
This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "What it means if Chiefs turn back to Eric Bieniemy when they need fresh approach."