When reports surfaced about Eric Bieniemy becoming Bears running backs coach, the concern became an obvious one.
They had Ben Johnson, hottest head coaching candidate and offensive play-calling savant. They had offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, regarded as the boy wonder. Former Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor joined the mix. Now they were adding Bieniemy, a coach
who had been considered the hottest potential head coach for years as an offensive coordinator for the Chiefs and Commanders before getting bounced to UCLA as an offensive coordinator.
It looked like an all-star staff, or else an opportunity for crossing lanes and causing accidents in the meeting rooms at Halas Hall, so to speak.
And when it came to the development of quarterback Caleb Williams, add in QB coach J.T. Barrett with the group and you had to wonder if too many cooks would spoil the broth.
The chance for mixed messages and coaching/QB issues almost seemed inevitable.
Bieniemy shot down the theory about potential for role conflict very fast. He said he knows how to stay in his own lane.
“I think that’s easy because right now, my role is to be the running back coach,” Bieniemy said. “I’m going to be the best damn running back coach that I need to be in order to help us be the team that we need to be. So any other foreseen roles, I’m not expecting any.
“My job is to be the best running back coach and making sure that my group is doing all the little things that are necessary to help us be the best team that we need be.”
Before Bieniemy was Kansas City’s offensive coordinator under Andy Reid, he was a Chiefs running backs coach who had Jamaal Charles, Dwayne Bowe, Spencer Ware, Charcandrick West and Kareem Hunt in his RB room. With Minnesota, he had been running back coach for Adrian Peterson.
“Obviously I’ve been involved in pretty much all the positions on this side of the ball,” Bieniemy said. “I don’t think there’s anything that I don’t know. It’s just that now I get to give back. It’s about the greater good of the offense.
“I’m fired up. Maybe it’s unfair to the four guys (backs) that I’m going to be working with but I’m excited because it’s only a handful of guys but I’m excited about pouring my all into them and sharing the knowledge and the stuff that I’ve gained over the seasons that I’ve had an opportunity to coordinate just to make sure that they have a better and more complete understanding of the game so they can see the big picture.”
Bieniemy laughed when reminded Johnson had said earlier at a press conference that he was confident his new running backs coach would “coach the piss” out of the Bears’ backs.
“I don’t know where all this comes from,” Bieniemy said.
It might come from how hard he challenges players.
“Obviously we want to be the very best that we can be, so there is a level of expectation that I expect,” Bieniemy said. “I expect us to work hard, I expect us to play hard, and these guys know because we’ve talked. I told them, ‘hey I’m old school. If you don’t work, we don’t eat.’
“Working means we’re working with a purpose. We’ve got to understand and define our purpose and everybody’s role is different because these guys all bring something tremendous to the table where they all complement each other. There’s a standard in which we need to live by and we need to understand that standard.”
The question facing Bieniemy now is not whether he’ll be interfering in the QB or play-calling mix as a former offensive coordinator but who he’ll have in the running backs room.
D’Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson, Travis Homer and Ian Wheeler seems a very small contingent. The draft could help repopulate the group, and maybe even bring a potential starter to Chicago.
Bieniemy will no sooner get involved in the Ashton Jeanty-Omarion Hampton-other backs debate than he would in Caleb Williams discussion. He’s focused on coaching up Swift, Johnson and the backs he does have.
“That list of backs, that’s all with the general manager and all that,” he said. “And I’m just going to say this, coach EB (Bieniemy) is a team player. We gonna do what is best for the organization.
“Whatever Ryan Poles and coach Johnson, and the organization wants to do, that’s their decision. Here’s what I’m excited about. I’m exciting about working with these four young men. And if we decide to bring somebody on, we gonna love them up and I don’t care if they’re drafted in the first round or they’re drafted in the seventh round or a street free agent because we all have to learn the importance of being accountable to one another because indirectly we impact each other’s lives.
The competitive nature in Bieniemy came flowing out, along with some salty language.
“So my job is to make sure I’m pouring my all into them and helping them to grow and develop all right but their job is to make that they’re doing all the necessary detailed things that’s going to help us to find a way to drag our ass across the finish line when it’s all said and done,” Bieniemy said.