Eric Bieniemy will be back on an NFL sideline for the 2025 season, joining Ben Johnson’s new coaching staff with the Chicago Bears as the team’s running back coach.
Bieniemy spent the 2024 season as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator for UCLA, the same role he held for the Washington Commanders during the 2023 season.
He left the program after one year where the Bruins finished 117th in yards per game and 126th in the nation in points per game.
It’s a big hire for Johnson’s coaching staff because for years Bieniemy was considered one of the top up-and-coming coaching candidates in the NFL during his time as the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator. That was a role he held between the 2018 and 2022 seasons, after previously serving as their running backs coach.
That is also what makes this hire and role so shocking.
It is a stunning drop to go from a top assistant who was at one time interviewing for head coaching jobs, to having to take a role as a position coach just to get back into the NFL.
The concern with Bieniemy during his time with the Chiefs is there was some doubt as to how much of the team’s offensive success was due to him, and how much of it was due to head coach Andy Reid and the presence of a superstar quarterback in Patrick Mahomes. Bieniemy struggling in offensive coordinator roles in Washington and UCLA, while the Chiefs continue to win Super Bowls and play in another, only adds to that narrative and question.
Now he has another chance to start working his way back up the coaching ranks with the Bears.
