If there is one thing you need to understand about Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, it is this: all this media attention announcing him as head coach is not what he asked for.
All those analysts (yes, including your real one) and speakers who used your situation to illuminate the NFL’s diversity problem in your coaching ranks? He didn’t campaign for that either.
Bieniemy, 51, seems to have been touched by the way most of the football world agrees that it is ridiculous that he has interviewed 14 times with 13 teams in the past three seasons, but is not yet a top coach in the league. However, he didn’t get that far in life wallowing in “could have” and “should have”.
Bieniemy remains a key player for a team that has a chance to be the first consecutive Super Bowl champion since the 2004 season. He has reached that point by consistently focusing on the next step. That’s why, when I asked him on Tuesday afternoon about all the publicity he received recently, he laughed a lot, almost as if he could finally stop waiting for the right moment to say it.
“No, I didn’t ask to be the poster boy for this particular situation that I experienced,” said Bieniemy with a laugh. “At the end of the day, the only thing you want to do is be recognized for all the things you have accomplished and for whatever reason, it has not happened.”
Okay, added Bieniemy. The only thing he can do is just get back to work.
“Because it was Fern Handy Gibson who created it, okay?” Bieniemy said. “Didn’t you know who it was? And my mother. She raised me to make sure I stay focused and keep chopping wood. “
Woodcutting. It is a phrase that Bieniemy repeats, that he punches into the heads of each of his players, many of whom could also predict the way Bieniemy would deal with the disappointment of being left out of the exclusive club of 32 NFL coaches again.
For example, when I asked Patrick Mahomes on Tuesday if he noticed a difference in Bieniemy since the last training cycle came to an end last week, Mahomes shook his head, his voice really rising with enthusiasm.
“Honestly, I mean, there was no difference [with him] – I think this is important to him, ”said Mahomes. “And what feeds this team, especially in a year like this, is that it always preaches [having] control, and [controlling] what you can control, and that is your attitude, your work ethic every day. And this is how it is.
“I mean, obviously, you know, he’s disappointed that he doesn’t have the opportunity to become a head coach after the season. But he knows that all he can do is make himself and his team better each day. He brings that mindset every day, and it helps us to be the best team we can be. “
Mahomes would know. Bieniemy is the last man Mahomes hears in his helmet before each move. He is also the man who helped Mahomes become a master against blitz at the advanced age of 25, since Bieniemy, a former running back, is so adept at identifying blitz trends and teaching Mahomes appropriate countermeasures.
“I mean, in terms of protection, he is the best there is,” Mahomes told me. “The fact that he gives me all the necessary tools so that I know exactly what to do – even if I get an un-looked look in a blitz – helps me to go there and get comfortable in my pocket and be able to pick us up to the right place in the right reading.
“It comes straight from him, it’s his study of the opponent’s defense.”
Bieniemy is good at this because of his attention to detail in the task at hand.
“The goals have never changed,” Bieniemy told me. “We want to beat AFC West, and we did. We want to establish the advantage of playing at home, which we did, and then win the Super Bowl. This is always our focus in this building, so my job is to make sure that not only the guys stay focused on it, but I also have to practice what I preach. “
Until the off-season, of course. It is when Bieniemy will, as he has done every year after a disappointing coaching cycle, devote time to improve as a coach in many ways. Whether spending time talking to the team and players at all levels, adjusting his main training book (which is essentially his detailed plan for managing a team) or simply enhancing his offensive experience, Bieniemy will try to return in 2021 as an even better coach.
Part of that, he added, is spending time mentoring other young coaches.
“[With] all the knowledge and wealth I gained in this sector ”, Bieniemy told me,“ I need to make sure that I am passing this information on to the next man, so that he has the opportunity to climb this ladder too. “
His current work is very good, given his tendency to insist on the players about the importance of details and focus. He has no intention of becoming a hypocrite.
“You know, I can’t sit and stay and feel sorry [myself], you know, because when all is said and done, I have a responsibility to the Kansas City chiefs, ”Bieniemy told me. “I have a responsibility to the Coach [Andy] Reid. I have a responsibility to the entire offensive technical team and our players to ensure that we are mentally and physically ready to go to the game. That’s who I am, right? And this is how I operate. “
It is appreciated in Kansas City, where Reid believes that Bieniemy will continue to do a great job until he finally gets his dream job.
“Eric Bieniemy works hard and is relentless in studying the game,” said Reid. “He is relentless in studying what his plan as a football coach would be – this guy doesn’t miss a beat. He was like this as a player and he is like a coach, either training the running backs or working the attack as a whole as a coordinator.
“So I don’t understand everything – I am not an owner. I don’t sit in those meetings to interview the head coaches. But I would just like to say that whoever catches it, whenever they catch it, will be very, very lucky. “
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Originally published