By Darnell Sallins
Eric Bieniemy is leaving the Kansas City Chiefs to be the Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator of the Washington Commanders as ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Friday night. It is a parallel shift for Bieniemy to leave a title where he has helped win two Super Bowls. Bieniemy has been the offensive coordinator under Andy Reid for five years in Kansas City where the Chiefs has been tops in offense over those five years.
However, Bieniemy doesn't get the credit. It all goes to Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. If you have been paying attention and listening to your favorite sport shows, then you have heard numerous times how sports analysts heap praise towards Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes for the high-octane offense in Kansas City. Andy Reid has to comes to out and say that Eric Bieniemy deserves just as much praise as well. Unfortunately, it is not translating well in the NFL.
Bieniemy as interviewed for a head coaching job 17 times. Yes, SEVENTEEN times and has not landed one head coaching gig in three years of interviewing. This is mind boggling to say the least, because there are different coaches getting hired every year in the NFL and with least of a resume than Bieniemy which doesn't make sense.
Look no further than this past Super Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs' offense had their way with the best defense in the league in the Philadelphia Eagles. Talkng about a defense that recorded the most sacks in the league with 70 sacks but didn't record one against Patrick Mahomes as the Chiefs dropped 38 points in the Super Bowl. After the Super Bowl, the talks were on Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes per usual.
Meanwhile, Bieniemy did his rounds of coaching interviews and still didn't land a head coaching position once again while the offensive and defensive coordinators of the Philadelphia Eagles both land head coaching jobs days later.
How is that?
How is this right?
Why do they keep giving the short straw to the black coaches?
These are some of the questions being asked about football fans and some major sports analysts after learning about the hiring of Shane Steichen by the Indianapolis Colts and Jonathan Gannon by the Arizona Cardinals. These guys were hired after making one Super Bowl appearance and losing, but Bieniemy has helped lead the Chiefs to three Super Bowl appearances and winning two of them and can't get a head coaching opportunity.
Is this what people like Stephen A. Smith is saying about racism in the NFL towards black men? Is this why Brian Flores has to file a lawsuit against the Miami Dolphins because he didn't want to lose for a better draft pick?
Eric Bieniemy being interviewed 17 times and has to accept the offensive coordinating position with the Washington Commanders just to prove that it wasn't all Andy Reid in Kansas City. Nevertheless, there are other questions circling around as to why this is what happening to Eric Bieniemy.
What is going in these interviews?
Are the owners talking about their interview process and why they didn't hire Bieniemy?
What is going on behind closed doors?
Why does the Rooney Rule exist when it's not being enforced as should? The NFL has five minority head coaches out of 32 teams. That is just 15.6% of the NFL head coaches, which means the Rooney Rule is just a nice way to interview minority candidates without having intentions to hire.
Eric Bieniemy deserves the opportunity to be the head coach of an NFL team and hopefully this transition to be the OC in Washington will be the steppingstone needed to land the opportunity.