By Adam Aniba
After Kansas City won SBLVII over the Eagles, Washington can now inquire about interviewing Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy. It remains to be seen if there's mutual interest, but reports have surfaced that the Ravens and Commanders are the two teams most likely to land the offensive coordinator.
During a recent episode of the John Keim show, Ron RIvera was asked if he expected the vacant OC position to be filled soon after the KC vs PHI game and had the following to say.
"I expect it to be wrapped up close to that."
Bieniemy received praise from Chiefs HC Andy Reid post game, with the head coach mentioning the OC as being a vital cog in the teams success.
Unfortunately there's a narrative out there, that the Chiefs OC had nothing to do with the day-to-day game planing and had little involvement when it came to play calling. In addition, a sideline argument between Patrick Mahomes and Bieniemy earlier in the season, has led to speculation that the OC and QB didn't get along.
During a post game interview, Mahomes actually credited Bieniemy for the 4th quarter 1st & 10 play from the Eagles 11 yard line, which contributed to the win.
"I want to give the credit to Eric Bieniemy, because even though sometimes we get tired of them talking about those moments, they always seem to happen in the biggest games and he makes sure we go through the details about them every single week."
With just under 2:00 remaining in the game, a run play was called for running back Jerick McKinnon. Before the play took place, the OC emphasized that if the RB got lose, he should take a knee/slide rather than run in for the touchdown.
The play resulted in a 9-yard gain and rather than score, McKinnon slid down at the Eagles 2-yard line. The heads up call forced PHI to use their remaining timeouts over the next three plays. Kansas City was able to run the clock all the way down 8 seconds, before kicking the game winning FG giving them the win.
These are the type of situational plays that Washington has been missing and seems to frequently be on the other end of.
In Washington, Bieniemy would inherit a young QB with upside in Sam Howell. More importantly, he'd also have one of the best receivers in the game with Terry McLaurin, a gadget weapon he could use in run/pass game with Curtis Samuel and a rising star with Jahan Dotson, who has proven to be a touchdown machine waiting to happen.
Furthermore, Bieniemy would have a bell-cow back at his disposal with Brian Robinson Jr and an underutilized receiving threat in RB Antonio Gibson.
Washington might be viewed as bit of an unknown situation with a new owner likely taking over in March. In saying that, Bieniemy would have a chance to deploy an innovative system, that he can finally call his own with legit weapons at his disposal.
This could be the first step in becoming a future NFL head coach, which is the dream for an NFL offensive coordinator.
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