Report: Future unclear for Eric Bieniemy after conclusion of coaching carousel

Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s contract is expiring, according to sources close to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

After getting passed over for head coaching opportunities again, Bieniemy has the choice of either returning to Kansas City for another season or to become a hot free-agent offensive coordinator target elsewhere. At least for now, it his dreams of becoming a head coach are off the table in 2022.

Coming off a 2021 campaign where he led the Kansas City Chiefs to finish with the No. 2 ranked offense in the NFL, Bieniemy’s name still had not emerged as multiple teams seek to fill their head coaching vacancies.

Sam McDowell of The Kansas City Star tweeted that Bieniemy signed a single-season deal after last year’s Super Bowl to keep him with the Chiefs for at least the 2021 season.

So far this offseason, eight NFL teams have dropped and signed new head coaches for the upcoming season. The Broncos hired Nathaniel Hackett, Miami signed Mike McDaniel, Matt Eberflus went to the Bears, Kevin O’Connell will take over the Vikings coaching vacancy after the Super Bowl, the Saints are replacing Sean Payton with Dennis Allen, Brian Daboll accepted the role with the Giants and Lovie Smith and Doug Pederson are headed to Houston and Jacksonville, respectively.

The one thing these eight franchises have in common: they passed up on Bieniemy. Field Yates tweeted shortly after that Bieniemy “will now officially return to the Chiefs for his fifth season as their offensive coordinator.”

The Denver Broncos and New Orleans Saints were the two teams that had interviewed the Chiefs offensive coordinator. He would not be called back for a second interview.

This phenomenon isn’t uncommon for Bieniemy, though. Since 2019, he has interview and been turned down by 14 of the 32 NFL teams during each season’s coaching cycle. He was interviewed by the Buccaneers, Jets, Dolphins and Bengals in 2019, the Browns, Giants and Panthers in 2020 and the Chargers, Jaguars, Jets, Texans and the Eagles sent in an interview request, but never came into fruition before getting turned down by the Broncos and Saints this offseason.

If reports are true and Bieniemy is returning to Kansas City for at least one more season, expect the Chiefs to pick right back up where they left off as a perennial Super Bowl contender with his Patrick Mahomes-led offense under head coach Andy Reid.