Getting to know a Denver Broncos coaching candidate: Eric Bieniemy

The final stop on the Broncos’ cross-country head-coach interview trek is to visit a man that is, in some ways, the best-known of the candidates — at least in Colorado.

Eric Bieniemy’s resume is the lengthiest of the nine interviewees who do not have head-coaching experience.

He has also become the perpetual head-coaching candidate in recent years — particularly since he ascended to the offensive-coordinator role in Kansas City previously held by Matt Nagy, who left for an up-and-down, four-year stint as Chicago Bears head coach in early 2018.

“I think this year he’s going to end up with one,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said.

Thus far, the Broncos are the only team scheduled to interview him. Bieniemy worked for the Minnesota Vikings from 2006-10 as their running backs coach, a stint that included four years which coincided with George Paton’s time there. Bieniemy’s final season with the Vikings also saw him serve as assistant head coach.

It was from that where he returned to the University of Colorado, where he starred at running back for the 1990 national-championship team. He served two years as offensive coordinator for the Buffs. In those years, the issues were limited to football; the Buffs won four of 25 games in the 2011 and 2012 seasons, and the staff was dismissed after a 1-11 finish in 2012.

But in his previous years in Boulder, Bieniemy dealt with a slew of legal issues, including multiple traffic violations that led to a suspension of his driver’s license. Two years after being drafted, a return to Boulder led to an arrest for alleged harassment of a female parking attendant, which led to being banned from the campus for a year. He returned to CU as the running backs coach in 2001 and 2002, a stint during which he was arrested for driving under the influence.

But those incidents are decades in the past. Bieniemy will turn 53 during training camp next summer. And since he connected with Reid and the Chiefs, joining his original Kansas City staff in 2013 as running backs coach, his reputation has only grown.

Within the Chiefs, Bieniemy draws praise for his leadership and team-building abilities. And while Reid has put more on his plate in terms of play-calling and tactical responsibilities in the last two years, his strong points remain rooted in the relationship-building aspects of the job.

“Sometimes professional sports have a tendency to think that it’s all about the numbers and the egos,” he said during a press conference held Oct. 22, 2020. “Sometimes, I think people forget that we play a team game. This is what has made us special. Our guys are going to do whatever is needed to go out and win.

“Because when it’s all said and done — and we talk about this each and every week — It’s not about the numbers. It’s about the alphabet. And the only two [letters of the] alphabet that matter in this industry is the ‘W’ and the ‘L.’ Whatever we have to do to get that ‘W,’ that’s all that matters.”

And most of the branches of the Reid tree have enjoyed some degree of success. John Harbaugh has maintained the Baltimore Ravens as a perennial contender. Sean McDermott immediately re-made the Buffalo Bills and has guided them

For example, Nagy, maligned as he was late in his Bears tenure, led a team quarterbacked by Mitchell Trubisky to a division title and a 12-4 record before Chicago’s 2018 season ended on Cody Parkey’s infamous double-doink miss from 43 yards out in the wild-card round. That sent a team led by another Reid acolyte — Doug Pederson — on to the divisional round.

Bieniemy will not have Patrick Mahomes at his disposal if he ends up landing a head-coaching job. And while he has matured into a quality leader in the Chiefs organization, the hardest question to answer might be this: Can he succeed in guiding a team without the best young passer in the sport at his disposal?