It’s a safe bet that no other offensive coordinator is under more scrutiny this season than the Washington Commanders’ Eric Bieniemy. He left a Super Bowl championship team expected to contend for that title again to join a floundering team with new ownership and a head coach squarely in the crosshairs in Ron Rivera.
In the third season of a five year deal, Rivera has amassed a subpar 22-27-1 record as a head coach.
His QB Sam Howell has a minimal track record and last year’s offense was dreadful.
Enter Eric Bieniemy, formerly the man in charge of an offense at Kansas City that went to three Super Bowls and won two in four seasons. Bieniemy had teamed with QB Patrick Mahomes to become the NFL’s most lethal offense. Yet it seemed that became more of a negative than a positive factor for Bieniemy from a career perspective.
That’s because the narrative around him has been Andy Reid was more responsible for Mahomes’ success than Bienemy, and that Reid was the real mastermind of the KC offense.
No matter that Reid and Mahomes both publicly credited Bienemy with the team’s offensive success. Apparently many around the NFL don’t have faith in Bienemy. He has interviewed 16 times for head coaching jobs and never been offered one.
The Washington job was and still is widely viewed as a critical audition and possible last chance for Bienemy to demonstrate he has head coaching potential.
That’s why it was so disappointing last week to see head coach Rivera saying some players felt Bienemy was being too tough. Rivera later apologized for those comments, admitting he had not seriously thought through the negative impact they could have.
So the fate of both Eric Bienemy and Ron Rivera are resting on this season. The new ownership wants an immediate turnaround, both to rekindle fan interest and to generate interest in building a new stadium.
It’s also a critical year in other respects for Bienemy. If he’s ever going to be a head coach, someone has to believe in him and give him a chance. A big season might lead to that chance.
But it’s a safe bet that neither Bienemy or Rivera will survive if the Commanders have another disastrous season.
