LeSean McCoy didn’t dislike his time with the Kansas City Chiefs, he just disliked one specific person.
One of the most mystifying questions around the NFL these past few years has been why Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy hasn’t landed a head coaching job.
If any other coordinator — specifically a white one — had the resume that, which includes coaching Patrick Mahomes, being on the Andy Ried tree, winning a Super Bowl, and assisting in crafting an offense that changed the way the league put together its rosters, he’d already be a few years into a head coaching gig.
Yet, four years later he’s still in the same job.
The mystery around why Bieniemy hasn’t, and seemingly can’t, land a job as a head coach deepens with each offseason. As reports of him being passed over for jobs circulated, it was initially explained away as him being difficult to work with. The obvious counter to this was referencing the NFL’s very real and extremely serious problem with giving Black coaches chances to succeed. Bieniemy is no doubt a likely victim of a systemic problem the NFL has with minority coaches — something its being sued for — but there seems to be at least some credence to the notion that Bieniemy isn’t someone players particularly like to play for.
LeSean McCoy is one of those players.
LeSean McCoy called out Eric Bieniemy over his coaching style
The ex-Chiefs running back, who was in Kansas City for a single season, spoke with the I Am Athlete podcast and absolutely flamed Bieniemy.
McCoy states that the reason he only stayed a single season in Kansas City was Bieniemy.
“There’s a reason why every year they hype him up to get a job and then when the time comes nobody hires him because they know the type of coach he really is,” McCoy said.
While McCoy roasted Bieniemy, he stopped short of going scorched earth and actually giving specifics about what he was inferring. Still, the statement is damning.
This isn’t the first time Bieniemy’s name and reputation have been dragged through the mud. After the Chiefs lost the AFC Championship Game this past season, an unconfirmed and since-deleted report detailed a confrontation between Bieniemy and star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
To be fair, the report was not from a mainstream NFL-sourced reporter and was walked back once it went viral. But the seeds have been planted, and McCoy’s comments don’t so much water them as they dump that Venom X stuff from Batman & Robin on it.
