Why Did Commanders Fire OC Eric Bieniemy & Replaced Him With Kliff Kingsbury? What’s The Caleb Williams Connection?

Coach Dan Quinn said at his first press conference that offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy had been sacked by the Washington Commanders following just one season on the squad.

Why Did Commanders Fire OC Eric Bieniemy & Replaced Him With Kliff Kingsbury? What’s The Caleb Williams Connection?

Bieniemy’s return was seen as unlikely, but on Sunday night, Washington officially signed Kliff Kingsbury to be their offensive coordinator. Quinn said that on Monday, he personally broke the news to Bieniemy.

Quinn remarked, “We won’t work together here, but I wanted him to know that I really appreciate the work that he’s done.” I’m hoping for the best for him.”

At the start of the 2024 NFL offseason, Bieniemy’s contract with the Commanders was still in effect. In 2023, he inked a multi-year contract with Washington to serve as both the offensive coordinator and associate head coach.

That being said, the team’s offensive collapse in the second half of the 2023 NFL season is the main issue that led to Bieniemy’s departure.

In 2023, Bieniemy got Sam Howell and Washington’s passing attack off to a great start, but as the season progressed, things became worse. In the end, the Commanders finished the season ranked 25th in scoring offense and 24th in total yards, and part of their team’s problems may be attributed to Bieniemy.

After essentially hiring Kliff Kingsbury to take Bieniemy’s position, the Commanders were ready to let him go, as the team revealed on Monday.

A significant amount of smoke enveloped Kingsbury and Washington, which is noteworthy given his association with Caleb Williams. The Commanders may choose to take a chance on the gifted quarterback prospect, even though they would probably have to move up to the No. 1 pick in order to get him. The two collaborated at USC throughout the previous season. Given that Washington now holds the No. 2 selection, that wouldn’t be out of the question.

However, quarterback Sam Howell, who made just one start as a rookie the year prior, also started for Washington in 2023. Team executives admitted in secret that the Commanders had a redesigned offensive line, but it was not seen as a strength.

However, as Howell accumulated more in-game reps—a typical pattern for rookie starters—teams began to find out how to effectively stop him. As NFL teams tried to force him into errors behind a suspect offensive line, he started to suffer a little bit more.

Bieniemy persisted in running a pass-heavy system in spite of this. In the end, Howell threw an NFL-high 612 passes while the club had the fewest rushing attempts.

Not that Washington’s offensive woes were new; in yards and points scored, the team has now finished no higher than 20th for six straight seasons.

Stats in… Record Comp. % Yards TDs INTs Y/A Rating
Howell’s first 9 games 4-5 66.6 2,471 14 9 7.0 89.3
Howell’s last 8 games 0-8 59.1 1,475 7 12 5.7 64.7

Bieniemy’s appeal as a head coaching prospect may have diminished somewhat, but his resume is still quite strong. Depending on what openings remain once he leaves Washington, a number of clubs ought to be interested in hiring him as an offensive coordinator or assistant head coach.

Now let’s go to Kingsbury. In 2012, Quinn had coaching experience opposite Kingsbury, who was the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M and the defensive coordinator at Florida. Gators victory, 20–17. Quinn said that after meeting at an awards ceremony, they “hit it off.”

Quinn stated that he brought on Kingsbury for the same reason he brought on Kyle Shanahan in 2015 for a comparable role with the Atlanta Falcons.

“He was hard to go against,” Quinn said. “He would stretch the field horizontally and vertically and going against Kliff, those same feelings you had: This is going to be tough, match-up formation, speed shots down the field, aggressiveness, boldness. As a coach you were writing down some names, this is something in your future, if I get that shot, this is somebody I would want to talk to.

“I know people talk about his acumen with quarterbacks and that’s proven. But he’s also an excellent coach, not just the guy who’s got to be with the quarterbacks the whole time.”

Eric Bieniemy landing spots

Kansas City Chiefs– Bieniemy had great success while playing with the Chiefs. In three of his five seasons as Kansas City’s offensive coordinator, the team ended as the NFL’s leaders in total yardage, and its scoring offense never finished lower than sixth. Under his direction, Patrick Mahomes also won two Super Bowls and two NFL MVP awards.

The Chiefs are competing for a Super Bowl once more, but it’s important to note that their offense has suffered without Bieniemy. Without him, they are only seventh in overall offense and fifteenth in points per game—by far the lowest these two categories have been for the club since 2016 (yardage) and 2014 (scoring), respectively.

In addition, Mahomes’ throwing efficiency was only 261.4 yards per game with a 92.6 passer rating. Both are his worst marks  during his six seasons as a starter.

Chicago Bears- After the team’s successful conclusion, the Bears finally made the decision to retain Matt Eberflus as their head coach. Nevertheless, according to Josina Anderson of CBS Sports, if Chicago had chosen a different course, it was anticipated that it would have been interested in hiring Bieniemy as its head coach.

It seems sense that Chicago would be interested in Bieniemy. With the first overall choice in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Bears may select a new quarterback in the offseason. Therefore, it would make sense to have an offensive-minded coach to aid in the development of that quarterback, most likely Caleb Williams.

Given that Williams hasn’t hesitated to compare his skill set to Patrick Mahomes’, Bieniemy would be the ideal person to assist him as a teacher.

Las Vegas Raiders- The Raiders interviewed Bieniemy for the position of offensive coordinator, but they just hired Getsy. Perhaps newly appointed head coach Antonio Pierce would think about adding the seasoned coordinator to his staff if they appreciated what he has to give.

It’s been a little challenging to find Bieniemy a defined job in Las Vegas because the Raiders have been adding coaches over the summer.

 

 

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