Kansas City Chiefs: Would Eric Bieniemy be a fit for the Detroit Lions?

Before taking a closer look at the Lions, let’s spend a minute re-hashing Eric Bieniemy’s career to date.

Bieniemy went to college at Colorado, where he had four very productive seasons as a running back, scoring a total of 42 touchdowns for the Buffaloes. During his senior season in 1990, Colorado finished ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll after going 11-1-1 (7-0 in the Big 8), and was named National Champions by multiple polls.

That season, Bieniemy finished No. 3 in Heisman voting while he accumulated nearly 1,800 yards of total offense while rushing for 17 touchdowns. Twice in his college career, Bieniemy ran for at least 1,243 yards, and three times in his college career did he score at least nine touchdowns.

In the 1991 NFL Draft, the San Diego Chargers drafted him in the second round with pick No. 39. He’d spend nine seasons in the NFL between the Chargers, Bengals, and Eagles, with whom he retired in 1999, which just so happened to be Andy Reid’s first year as Philadelphia’s head coach.

His pro career was…fine. It was fine. Heck, it lasted nine years, which is more than average. He never rushed for more than 381 yards in a given season, but he did turn into a versatile weapon, especially during his time in Cincinnati.

With the Bengals, he not only served as the team’s primary kick returner in 1997, but he developed into a pass-catching running back, hauling in a total of 133 passes for 1,098 yards over four seasons. With the Chargers and Eagles combined, he caught just 13 passes.

After a year off, Bieniemy returned to Colorado as the team’s running back coach for two years before serving in the same role with UCLA for three years. Then he jumped back to the pros, still as a running backs coach, for five seasons with the Vikings. After that, he got his first coordinator gig, again with his alma mater.

It did not go well.

In two seasons as the team’s offensive coordinator, the Buffaloes went 4-21 (3-15) before the staff was let go. During his first season, Colorado averaged 19.8 points-per-game, which ranked 109th out of 120 schools. It became worse the next year, though, when the Buffs put up only 17.8 points-per-game, which was 120th out of 124.

Thankfully, Bieniemy landed on his feet and was back in the pros the following season, once again as a running backs coach, but this time with the Kansas City Chiefs and his former head coach, Reid. Bieniemy would serve as the RB coach for the Chiefs from 2013-2017 under not only Reid but also future head coaches Doug Pederson and Matt Nagy.

After Nagy left for the Bears before the start of 2018, Reid promoted Bieniemy to offensive coordinator. Suffice it to say, it’s gone better than his first time as OC. The Chiefs offense obliterated the competition in 2018, averaging over 35 points-per-game as Mahomes tossed 50 touchdown passes.

Then, in 2019, while the team dropped to fifth in the league in points scored, the Chiefs still averaged 28.2 points-per-game while capturing the Super Bowl. And this season, things are rolling once again, as the team is second in the league in scoring at an average of 31.2 points.