Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy spent time away from the team’s practice facility as he helped his wife recover after reportedly being shot last month.
Having returned to practice on August 10 after a couple of weeks away, players are already feeling his presence. Particularly the veterans, whom will have formerly spent time with Bieniemy during his former stint as OC from 2018 – 2022, during which time the Chiefs won two Super Bowls and went to a third.
Travis Kelce, who at this point is the longest-tenured player on the team, was even with the franchise during Bieniemy’s first year with organization, having joined in 2013 as the running backs’ coach.
Speaking from experience, Kelce explained how Bieniemy’s return has made a difference to practice, and how his coaching style differs from others.
“One, you’ve got intensity. Intensity is the first thing. And that intensity is infectious. It makes you want to scream âmotherf***â at everybody doing the wrong thing. And I love that sh*t. I donât think thereâs enough of that in this world, let alone in this building.” Kelce said to the media on Wednesday.
“[Eric Bieniemy]’s one of those guys where his accountability is going to p*** you off, but if you treat it the right way and act the right, respond the right way with it you’re going become of it, and it’s going to make the team a better team because of it. It’s one of those things that we really missed here in Kansas City.”
Eric Bieniemy Looking to Return Chiefs Offense to Former Glory
Bieniemy’s OC career post Kansas City was not exactly as fruitful as he would have wanted. After lasting just one year heading up the offense with the Washington Commanders in 2023, the 56-year old’s UCLA Bruins team went 5-7 and averaged just 18.4 points per game as he over took the same role with the college program for one sole season in 2024.
But Bieniemy certainly can attest to having been successful in Chicago, where he helped turn otherwise quotidian running back duo in D’Andre Swift and then-rookie seventh round pick Kyle Monangai into one of the better tandems in football as the Bears finished third in rushing offense in 2025.
Perhaps the better comparison comes down to clear offensive decline in Kansas City after his initial departure three-and-a-half years ago.
Bieniemy left the Chiefs as the top ranked regular season total offense in 2022; a year that also saw them hoist the Super Bowl for the second-time in the Patrick Mahomes era. In the three years that followed under fellow-returning OC Matt Nagy, Kansas City ranked 8th, 19th and 20th in 2023-25.
In the Bieniemy – Mahomes era prior, the Chiefs had the top ranked offense in four out of five seasons, with the other season in 2019 coming in at a still-respectable 4th.
Kelce and head coach Andy Reid will no doubt be hoping that Bieniemy’s intensity and rigor on offense can bring back the glory days of KC’s high-flying offense after three seasons of below-par output.
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