KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Just last week, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes shared his perspective on the qualities he wanted in the team’s next offensive coordinator.
After all, Mahomes knew that Matt Nagy, the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator the past three seasons, was not expected to return for the 2026 campaign. Nagy’s contract expired when the Chiefs’ disappointing season ended earlier this month, and he has spent the past two weeks going through coaching interviews.
Mahomes thanked Nagy for helping him improve as one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks. A few minutes later, though, Mahomes gave a thorough list of what he hopes the person alongside coach Andy Reid will do to help guide the Chiefs offense back to elite production.
Chicago Bears to interview Bienemy, their running backs coach over the past year, for their coordinator opening. Bieniemy, who was Mahomes’ coordinator from 2018-2022, was the lone request the Chiefs made Monday, the day Reid could begin interviewing candidates in person.
Reid could see a reunion with Bieniemy as a clear path for the Chiefs offense to once again become one of the league’s most potent units. In his previous five years with the Chiefs, Bieniemy helped the offense finish no lower than sixth in points per game.
In the second half of this past season, several opponents — the Buffalo Bills, the Denver Broncos, the Houston Texans and the Los Angeles Chargers — were able to expose a flaw in the Chiefs’ offense: They put more defensive backs on the field and still pressured Mahomes without blitzing. Reid and Nagy had several moments in which they struggled to find answers when Mahomes faced man-to-man coverage. Mahomes tried to do his best when his receivers couldn’t get open by scrambling to extend the play in hopes of creating a highlight. But he completed just 41% of his passes when under duress, the lowest such completion percentage in his career.
«The one part of having so much success is teams watch a lot of film on you, so we try to have good game plans of how to combat what you do and what you’ve done well,» Mahomes said last week. «You saw that this year, where teams were very conscious of some of the plays that we’ve hit for a long time. We have to find ways to counteract that and kind of go at teams and be able to utilize that and make more explosive plays.
D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai helped the Bears to the league’s second-best rushing offense. A six-year veteran, Swift recorded a career-high 1,087 rushing yards and 10 total touchdowns. Monangai, a seventh-round rookie, generated 947 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns. The Bears’ 4.9 yard-per-carry average ranked third.
«He has meant a lot,» Monangai said Monday of Bieniemy following the end of the Bears’ season. «Most of all, he kind of helped me to understand what it takes to be a great running back in this league and the amount of detail, the focus, the preparation and all those things.
«Just kind of learning from him as a running back coach, someone who has been a former [coordinator] and has coached great players, he definitely helped me out a lot from OTAs when we first met until now.»
The Chiefs know they need sizable improvements in their running game and run-blocking scheme.
No matter when the Chiefs ran the ball this season, their production from running backs Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt was among the NFL’s worst. Although Hunt was excellent in short-yardage situations, the Chiefs failed to create explosive gains on running plays at a historic rate. Pacheco didn’t have a single rushing attempt in which he gained 20 or more yards. Hunt had one.
Are Drake Maye’s TOs a problem?
• Bieniemy is the right fit for Chiefs
• Can Walker fill void of Charbonnet?
• AFC North roundtable: The upheaval
• What LaFleur’s deal means for Packers?
«We’re not getting enough reaction out of [the defense],» Reid said earlier this month of the Chiefs’ play-action passing game. «That could be because of the run game. That could be because of the action that we’re showing, but there wasn’t enough respect there that needs to be given. We’ve got to run the ball more efficiently, especially on first or second down.
«Somewhere you’d like to have a few bigger plays in that area. Not three [or] four yards. Every once in a while, you need to hit on a few.»
Throughout the season, the Chiefs’ collective energy, concentration and focus waned at times, usually in critical moments. One of the biggest reasons the Chiefs were unable to reach the postseason was because they couldn’t win one-score games, finishing with a 1-9 record in such games. In those losses, the Chiefs often committed more penalties than their opponents, they dropped the ball or made a mental, unforced error.
Throughout his coaching career, Bieniemy has been known for demanding discipline from his players. He has even engaged in confrontations with players, during practices or games, to motivate and remind them how to perform their best.
Since they’ve been teammates, Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce have always expressed their love and admiration for Bieniemy’s coaching style.
«I love watching them, man,» Kelce said of the Bears offense last month during the «New Heights» podcast he co-hosts with Jason Kelce, his brother. «I just love watching teams that have Eric Bieniemy as their coach.»
As for new ideas, Bieniemy should have plenty to offer Reid and Mahomes. Bieniemy learned and helped implement the Bears’ new scheme under first-year coach Ben Johnson, whose running attack was one of the league’s most varied.
«EB brings the same traits that made him successful before: works his ass off and holds people accountable,» former Chiefs right tackle Mitchell Schwartz wrote Monday on his X account. «This time he comes back with intimate knowledge of Ben Johnson’s system, which is as stylistically opposite of KC as just about anyone right now. You’re not going to get much more from a hire than that combination. He’s exactly what the team needs: a guy to coach everyone hard, a guy with new ideas and concepts from one of the best, and possibly the best RB coach in the league to groom [Brashard] Smith (and whoever else the team brings in).
«I’ve been on the record about wanting [former Miami Dolphins coach] Mike McDaniel, but that’s not realistic when your HC is Andy Reid. And for [a] good reason. So get the guy back who knows the previous system and can bring fresh and new ideas (see what I did there) from a top offense.»
ESPN NFL Nation reporter Courtney Cronin contributed to this report.
