A familiar face could return to Kansas City. Bears' running backs coach Eric Bieniemy is a prime candidate for the Chiefs' offensive coordinator vacancy.
It's officially the offseason for the 2025 Chicago Bears.
Now that the Bears have been eliminated from the playoffs by the Los Angeles Rams, it's time for assistant coaches to start interviewing for openings.
With the expectation that Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy is going to land a head coaching job in the offseason, the organization is already making preparations to fill his position.
Nagy is under consideration by the Tennessee Titans for their head coaching vacancy.
The man for the job? None other than Bears' running backs coach Eric Bieniemy. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the Chiefs have requested to interview Bieniemy for their offensive coordinator opening.
Bieniemy was previously the Chiefs' OC from 2018-2022. He spent one season with the Washington Commanders in the same role in 2023. He then went to the college level as UCLA's assistant head coach and offensive coordinator in 2024.
It was predicted earlier this season that Bieniemy could be one of the Bears' assistants poached in the offseason. In an odd twist of fate, it was even reported that the Detroit Lions could hire a Bears assistant as their next offensive coordinator.
It would've been ironic if the Lions hired Bieniemy after the Bears had done the same thing with Ben Johnson last offseason.
However, the Lions are reportedly hiring former Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing for that position.
Losing Bieniemy to the Chiefs would definitely be a loss for Chicago. The running game flourished in his first season, with D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai turning into a good one-two punch in the backfield.
Swift had 1,087 rushing yards in the regular season, while Monangai ended with 783. The Bears finished with the third-most rushing yards (144.5) per game in the NFL.
Bieniemy had plenty of success with the Chiefs. Kansas City's points per game were inside the top 10 each year he was with the franchise as OC. The same can be said for the Chiefs' total yards and passing yards per game.
With how successful a season the Bears had, it was only a matter of time before other teams started interviewing assistants on Johnson's staff.
The Bears can block current OC Declan Doyle from being interviewed, but the likes of passing game coordinator Press Taylor and quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett could be leaving the staff after this season.
Chicago may be looking for a new running backs coach, it seems.