Eric Bieniemy was enjoying his time as the Bears’ running backs coach, helping the team win an NFC North title and a playoff game.
But then a special opportunity came up and Bieniemy jumped at it.
“If ‘Big Red’ ever picks up the phone,” Bieniemy said Wednesday, referring to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, “that’s the only person you’ll say, ‘Hey, you know what, it might be time to return home,’ because he’s given me this opportunity.”
Bieniemy, who spoke to Kansas City media in a video conference this week, is back as the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator — the same position he held from 2018-2022, winning a pair of Super Bowls with the club. Since then, he’s served as the Commanders’ offensive coordinator, UCLA’s offensive coordinator, and the Bears’ RBs coach.
Bieniemy noted those experiences, particularly calling plays for the Commanders and UCLA, have helped him grow.
“[W]hen you’re doing it on your own, you have to find creative ways to implement a system,” Bieniemy said. “On top of that, you learn a lot about yourself. The good, the bad, and the ugly. … Just a dynamic of working with people, learning how to communicate and articulate your plan, and getting them to buy in. I think all that helps, and I think that any experience that you’ve had, whether it’s good or bad, it’s all something that we can learn from.
“With that said, I’ve learned a lot over the years. I’ve learned a lot about myself and I’m just excited just to get started and obviously today is day one, but I want to make sure day two, three, four, five that we hit the ground running with all this excitement and all this energy that’s being created.”
Bieniemy added he feels “like a kid in the candy store” returning to Kansas City.
“[H]aving this opportunity to come back and be put in this chair with coach Reid, that was just something that it’s tough to pass up on,” Bieniemy said. “With all that taking place, I’m excited, I’m fired up, it was one of them deals that happened fast and I’m looking forward to it.”
But even with Bieniemy’s experiences over the last few years with other teams, he said he won’t be too different.
“There are some things about me that have changed, but more than anything, EB is EB,” Bieniemy said. “We will still be disciplined and detailed in how we handle our business. There’s a standard of performance, there’s a standard of excellence that will be expected, but on top of that, there has been a great deal of wealth that I’ve learned. Through the good and through the bad and the thing that I appreciate has just helped me to grow into this role and have this opportunity to be in this situation again.”
