Life without arguably the greatest quarterback of all time has not proven kind to former Washington Commanders and Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.
Yahoo Sports college football writer Ross Dellenger reported on December 5 that Bieniemy was fired as UCLA’s offensive coordinator after one season. It’s the second consecutive season Bieniemy has been fired after just one season on the job after he was cut loose by the Commanders following the 2023 season.
“UCLA is making a change at offensive coordinator. Eric Bieniemy is out, sources tell @YahooSports,” Dellenger wrote on his official X account. “Bruins finished 117th in total offense this season.”
UCLA went 5-7 overall in its first season in the Big Ten Conference in 2024, including a 3-6 record in Big Ten play. The Bruins are 15th out of 18 teams in the Big Ten in total offense and 16th in scoring offense (18.4 points).
Bieniemy spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach for the Chiefs, including 5 seasons as the offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2022 — 2-time NFL MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ first 5 seasons as a starter — as the Chiefs won 2 Super Bowls and played in another Super Bowl in that stretch.
Bieniemy’s Time in Washington: Not Fun For Anyone
Bieniemy’s time in Kansas City as offensive coordinator seemed like one of those “in name only” situations. In actual practice, he was at best the co-offensive coordinator with head coach Andy Reid and in reality the third voice in the room when it came to calling plays after Reid and Mahomes.
Desirous to prove himself on his own after several failed opportunities at being a head coach, Bieniemy came to the Commanders and went 4-13 in his one year on the job and rubbed people the wrong way from the start.
In June 2024, Commanders guard Sam Cosmi told a bizarre story to The Washington Post’s Candace Buckner about a rule Bieniemy tried to enforce on offensive players during his one season as offensive coordinator: No hats on backwards.
For most NFL offensive coordinators, trying to regulate how multi-millionaire athletes dress is pretty low on their list of priorities. To the point where energy wasted on it might be looked at as a disadvantage when that time could be spent on, for example, making a game plan.
“Last season, Eric Bieniemy came to town to run the offense,” Buckner wrote. “And he brought with him a new title that gave him power — and some asinine rules that made no sense. Including a rule about hats and how grown men should wear them.”
Odd Response to Criticism of Coaching Style
The rule on backwards hats wasn’t the only odd thing about Bieniemy’s tenure in Washington. Almost from the start, former Commanders head coach Ron Rivera found himself answering questions about why players complained about Bieniemy’s brusque coaching style.
While Rivera defended his offensive coordinator, Bieniemy spoke in third person in his comments to Sports Illustrated about the players’ complaints.
“Eric Bieniemy is who he is,” Bieniemy said. “Eric Bieniemy knows how to adapt and adjust. Eric Bieniemy is a tough, hard-nosed coach — but also understand I’m going to be the biggest and harshest critic — but also their No. 1 fan because I’ve got their back.”
