Why Commanders Should Hire Eric Bieniemy as Head Coach
Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has interviewed for the Washington Commanders' head coaching job, so why aren’t fans taking him more seriously?
In previous seasons, Bieniemy was interviewed for more head coaching vacancies while Acting as the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator. However, only the Commanders have shown any consideration this off-season by giving him an interview.
Washington Commanders assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy walks down the sidelines during the first half against the Arizona Cardinals at FedExField.
Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
A way of discrediting Bieniemy’s worthiness as a head coach in the past was by knocking him for not calling plays for the offense while coaching under Andy Reid, but this past year in Washington, he was the man calling the shots.
Unfortunately, more control didn’t come with more success. The hope was that in his seventeenth head coaching interview since 2019, he’d have found success that made him undeniable as a head coach candidate, but Reid received the majority of the credit for the Chiefs' success on offense, and the Commanders weren’t a juggernaut this season with him at the helm calling plays.
Through the first 10 weeks calling plays for first-year Washington starting quarterback Sam Howell averaged 280 passing yards per game, but he would struggle towards the end of the season with the offense finishing 24th in yards (312.8 yards per game) and 25th in scoring (19.4 points per game).
However, it’s fair to question how much of that was because it was his first year calling plays for this team. After all, he did provide a slight boost in scoring, so there’s optimism that with more time, the team would shine more as they get more comfortable in his system and the young players get more reps in the NFL.
Bieniemy Getting interviewed deserves to be taken seriously now more than ever because, as an internal candidate, that means that the organization takes him seriously and isn’t just trying to satisfy the Rooney rule, which requires that the team, searching for head coaches, interview minority candidates from outside their own building.
Washington will need a leader who can develop a culture, and after years of helping cultivate a winning environment in Kansas City, Bieniemy is one of the winningest head coach candidates out there.
Commanders fans may not view him as the most exciting head coach hire. Still, Bieniemy might be the ma’am needed to flip this team from being a bottom dweller to a playoff contender, just like the Houston Texans accomplished with rookie head coach DeMeco Ryans.
