{"id":713872,"date":"2026-01-29T11:49:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/713872\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T11:49:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:49:25","slug":"eric-bieniemy-has-a-standard-of-excellence-he-expects-chiefs-to-meet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/713872\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Bieniemy has a \u2018standard of excellence\u2019 he expects Chiefs to meet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Days after officially returning<\/a> as the offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>, Eric Bieniemy spoke with the Kansas City media on Wednesday. Bieniemy spent a decade on Kansas City\u2019s staff from 2013 to 2022 and was the offensive coordinator for his last five seasons with the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

Bieniemy left the team following the Chiefs\u2019 victory in Super Bowl LVII. He spent the 2023 season as the offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders<\/a> before leading UCLA\u2019s offense in 2024. In 2025, he was the running backs coach for the Chicago Bears<\/a>. Per NFL Next Gen Stats<\/a>, the Bears ranked fourth in the league this season with 0.04 expected points added (EPA) per rush play.<\/p>\n

Currently, Bieniemy is working through how the concepts he has learned in three years away from Kansas City can help the Chiefs and head coach Andy Reid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had an opportunity to learn a few things,\u201d he remarked. \u201cI\u2019ve obviously opened my mind to how to view things from a different point of view. It\u2019s great, but on top of that, we\u2019ve got to make sure we\u2019re getting down to what\u2019s best for us when it\u2019s all said and done with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody can present an idea,\u201d Bieniemy acknowledged. \u201cMore importantly, we need to make sure, first and foremost, that we\u2019re taking a look at anything we need to continue to improve on or continue working with and making sure we\u2019re getting all the answers first with that and then just figure out where we need to go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kansas<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Stepping out of Reid\u2019s shadow allowed Bieniemy to develop as a communicator.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s helped me in a number of ways,\u201d said the coach. \u201cWhen you\u2019re doing it on your own, you\u2019ve got to find creative ways to implement a system. You learn a lot about yourself \u2014 the good, the bad, and the ugly. All ideas are not bad ideas; we just need to be receptive to them. Just the dynamic of working with people, learning how to communicate and articulate your plan, and getting them to buy in \u2014 I think all that helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot over the years,\u201d Bieniemy pointed out. \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot about myself. I\u2019m excited just to get started. Obviously, today is Day 1. I want to make sure on Day 2, 3, 4 and 5 we hit the ground running with all this excitement and all this energy that\u2019s being created.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because he is just coming off a postseason run with the Bears, Bieniemy admits he is still in the early stages of planning what can be done to improve the Chiefs, who struggled offensively down the stretch of a disappointing 6-11 season. While away, however, he continued to look at Kansas City for ideas on new plays of his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really haven\u2019t had an opportunity to dig in and really study it like I want to,\u201d he offered. \u201cEvery now and then, I would pick up a few ideas or a few plays here and there. But I really haven\u2019t had a chance to dig in like I want to. I\u2019m going to spend this time during this period just to figure out the good, the bad, the ugly, and the indifferent.\u201d<\/p>\n

One area Bieniemy should make an immediate impact on is resurrecting the Chiefs\u2019 lethargic run game. He will work with Reid \u2014 and offensive line coach Andy Heck \u2014 on solutions to make that portion of the offense more exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Coach Reid,\u201d he predicted, \u201cwe\u2019re going to figure out things that we need to do moving forward as far as making sure we get the right people in the building. When it\u2019s all said and done with, we\u2019re going to make sure we can do the things that we do best. We have one of the better O-line coaches in the industry in Coach Heck. He does an outstanding job with those guys up front.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHave I been exposed to a number of run schemes? Yes,\u201d Bieniemy reflected aloud. \u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019ve got to make sure that we\u2019re doing what\u2019s best for us moving forward. I think that\u2019s just a general overall plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Bieniemy left, the Chiefs have (fairly or not) been perceived to lack accountability on offense both for coaches and players. Bieniemy expects all individuals \u2014 players and assistants \u2014 to be coachable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we get paid,\u201d he declared. \u201cWe\u2019re coaches. It\u2019s our job to come up with answers. We\u2019ve got to make sure we can give solutions to the answers and resolve it. We\u2019ve got a great coaching staff. We\u2019ve got great people. I feel like I\u2019m back in with family. We\u2019re all very familiar with each other, so we\u2019ll sit down and figure everything out together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kansas<\/a><\/p>\n

Kansas City Chiefs running backs coach Eric Bieniemy shouts during drills on August 4, 2014, during training camp practice at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Mo. (David Eulitt\/Kansas City Star\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

As for players, Bieniemy is excited to start fresh with new ideas, but the vocal, hard-nosed coach fans saw for a decade remains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some things about me that have changed,\u201d Bieniemy stated, \u201cbut more than anything, EB is EB. We will still be disciplined in detail in everything in how we handle our business. There\u2019s a standard of performance. There\u2019s a standard of excellence that will be expected. But on top of that, there\u2019s been a great deal of wealth that I\u2019ve learned through the good and the bad. The thing that I appreciate is it\u2019s just helped me to grow into this role and have this opportunity to be in this situation again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Days after officially returning as the offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs, Eric Bieniemy spoke with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,922,2438,2437,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-713872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-chiefs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","12":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","13":"tag-kansascity","14":"tag-kansascitychiefs","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115978238735025251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}