Eric Bieniemy has been named the new running backs coach of the Chicago Bears. Bieniemy, who earned notoriety with the Kansas City Chiefs as their running backs coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator. He returns to his position group as part of Ben Johnson’s first coaching staff in Chicago. Since leaving Kansas City, Bieniemy has been the offensive coordinator in the NFL with the Washington Commanders and in college football at UCLA. He was let go from both places after underwhelming one-year stints.
Bieniemy has shown that he can work wonders in a running back room, but he has also shown some troubling signs as a leader. Johnson and the Chicago Bears are banking on his strengths outweighing his perceived shortcomings. His number one job as the running backs coach is to leave an underwhelming 2024 in the rearview mirror for D’Andre Swift and the running back room.
Bieniemy Joins Chicago Bears Coaching Staff
Bieniemy is heading to Chicago to join Johnson’s staff and coach the Bears’ running backs for the 2025 season. Bieniemy has had a lengthy career in football, both as a player and coach and now returns to his position group to try and revitalize his NFL coaching career. He will be tasked with helping to improve Chicago’s run game, a unit that was 25th in the NFL in rushing yards, 29th in yards per carry, and 20th in rushing touchdowns in 2024.
Bieniemy will coach a unit that primarily features Swift and Roschon Johnson, a duo that didn’t live up to their billing as a “thunder and lightning” combination for the Chicago Bears in their first year together last season. Bieniemy, who has overseen multiple running back situations and landscapes during his coaching career, will look to maximize the potential that exists in the backfield and wasn’t shown on the field last season. A possible impediment to their success is Bieniemy’s coaching style, which has been regarded as abrasive and confrontational by players he has coached in Kansas City and Washington.
If Bieniemy’s approach to coaching can resonate with Swift and mesh with Johnson and new Offensive Coordinator Declan Doyle, then this move will be viewed as a huge success. Swift was signed to a three-year, $24 million deal before last season. The former Georgia Bulldog is hoping that Bieniemy can help him bounce back from a disappointing 2024 when Swift ran for just 959 yards and a career-low 3.8 yards per carry.
Bieniemy’s Road To the Windy City
Bieniemy heads to Chicago after an uninspiring couple of years. Bieniemy rose to prominence with the Kansas City Chiefs as their running backs coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator when Matt Nagy left to take the head coaching position with the Chicago Bears. It was widely assumed that Bieniemy would be the next offensive mind in Kansas City to receive offers to become a head coach, but that opportunity never materialized. He left the Chiefs after 2022 to find a place where he could call the plays for an offense, a task that Andy Reid wouldn’t entrust to Bieniemy.
Bieniemy wound up in Washington with the Commanders as their offensive coordinator under Head Coach Ron Rivera. Bieniemy didn’t have the same weapons in Washington that he did in Kansas City and as a result, his offense struggled to produce. At the end of the 2023 season Bieniemy, along with the rest of Rivera’s staff was relieved of their duties, forcing Bieniemy to look elsewhere.
His next stop was in the college ranks with the UCLA Bruins as their offensive coordinator. Bieniemy joined first-year Head Coach DeShaun Foster and his staff. Following a 5-7 season that saw UCLA’s offense rank 117th in total offense and 126th in scoring offense, Bieniemy was dismissed. Having gotten three opportunities to spearhead offenses, two of them as a play caller, offers as a coordinator were sparse for Bieniemy. That led him to be the Chicago Bears running backs coach in 2025. If all goes well for Bieniemy this season, don’t be surprised if this season is a one-year stint on his way back up the NFL coaching hierarchy.
Final Thoughts
I like the move to bring in Bieniemy in this capacity. He has shown that he can struggle if given the reins to an offense as the coordinator, but as a running backs coach, I think Bieniemy will be a net positive for the Chicago Bears. The only thing I worry about with Bieniemy is his attitude meshing with the other coaches on Johnson’s staff. Aside from Dennis Allen, the bulk of this coaching staff is getting set to take their first try at leading an organization. Bieniemy has earned a reputation for being abrasive and conflict-oriented in his coaching style.
If this isn’t the natural attitude for the rest of the coaching staff, most importantly Johnson, then there may be some conflicting messaging that players receive on the Chicago Bears offense. I appreciate Bieniemy’s intensity for the running back room in a vacuum. His expertise as a former top running back combined with the amount of experience he has had should make for better production out of the Chicago Bears’ running backs.
