Don’t Forget about Eric Bieniemy in the Coming Months
A few things must happen for the 2021 Minnesota Vikings to look familiar in 2022.
The Vikings must start a lengthy winning streak, probably this week at the Los Angeles Chargers. Then, Mike Zimmer’s team needs to find a way into the postseason, likely with the sixth or seventh seed as the field currently sits. And after that, the Vikings presumably need to win a playoff game or two for Zimmer to be the franchise’s skipper in 2022.
Minnesota is currently 3-5 on the outside looking in for playoff positioning. In the last 30 years, 177 teams started a season with a 3-5 record. 15 of them — or 8.5% — ended up in the playoffs.
Because this battle is uphill, the Vikings are unlikely to fundamentally change the course of 2021. They keep losing games in the same manner — depressing, tight-game heartbreaks down the stretch, chiefly blamed on playcalling and coaching.
As a result, Zimmer is on the hot seat, and a different man or woman will likely lead the franchise in 2021.
Don’t forget about Eric Bieniemy.
The Kansas Chiefs offensive coordinator has been notoriously passed over for head coaching gigs for about three straight offseasons. The ordeal is one of the most perplexing in the NFL for the coaching carousel.
Vikings fans are fixated on the “new” possibilities for the next coach right now — Brian Daboll, Byron Leftwich, Kyle Shanahan, etc. — but don’t discount Bieniemy.
Bieniemy, 52, and his Chiefs are struggling a bit at the moment — especially by Chiefs standards — with a 5-4 record in the crowded AFC playoff picture. Ordinarily, the Chiefs are flogging the rest of the league, setting sights on the AFC title game and beyond at this point. But not in 2021.
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And that’s why Bieniemy’s stock is a bit low. Even when the rumor mill starts about his head coaching candidacy, folks wonder how much of Kansas City’s success is attributable to head coach Andy Reid and the usually-Superman Patrick Mahomes. Now, it feels like Bieniemy is totally on the backburner for coaching-gig whispers — which is perfect for the Vikings to swoop in as a dark horse in January.
Current Vikings ownership gave Bieniemy his first NFL coaching job back in 2006. What did Bieniemy do with it? Easy. He polished a future Hall of Famer named Adrian Peterson. Bieniemy was the Vikings running backs coach under Brad Childress for four seasons before elevation to assistant head coach in the ill-fated 2010 campaign.
The man has proverbial ties to Minnesota — strong ones, in fact.
In the NFL, said ties matter, so Bieniemy’s name should be remembered at the forefront of your brain if the Vikings encounter a coaching search. To a degree, Bieniemy’s availability left until now for the Vikings would feel a bit cosmic and poetic. That is — it would be fitting for the franchise that empowered him in 2006 to offer his first stab at the big job.
Since Bieniemy took over the offensive coordinator gig in 2018 with Kansas City, the Chiefs score 30.0 points per game — tops in the NFL during the timeframe. One can debate the “who gets the credit” ad nauseam — but 30 points per game for four seasons should at least get the man an interview, right?
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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