Media members finally had a chance to ask Kansas City Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy about the heated discussion with Patrick Mahomes ahead of halftime in the Week 3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
Mahomes understood after watching the video why people thought it was a big deal, but he dismissed it all as a non-issue. Bieniemy explained why Mahomes was heated and says he actually encourages that type of passion from his players, especially his quarterback.
“Here’s the thing — Obviously, we have a protocol, we’re talking through the headsets,” Bieniemy explained. “Here’s what I love about Pat (Mahomes), Pat is a competitor. You want them that way. That’s how you want them. You want to finish every drive in the endzone with a score. At that particular time, as a staff, we decided, ‘You know what, we’re getting the ball at the start of the second half. So, we just want to take a knee.’ So, obviously, you know, Pat being the competitor that he is, he wasn’t ready to hear that.”
Andy Reid had mentioned on Monday that Bieniemy was actually a calming presence in the situation. That tracks with what Bieniemy said as well.
“At that particular time, I was just trying to calm the storm,” Bieniemy said. ” Y’all know who I am. You guys have seen me erupt. If it had been a true eruption, I think you guys would recognize that. After that, that was it.”
Bieniemy also explained that he coaches individuals differently. He knows how to motivate and communicate with Mahomes in order to get the best out of him.
“Yes, you can coach players hard,” Bieniemy said. “And certain players deserve to be coached hard. But one thing you have to understand is the different situations and how you handle and how you react. So as far as coaching, we’re coaches — our job is to make sure that our players are doing exactly what we want them to do. On top of that, we’ve been doing this for a long time, so if there is an issue, we can have that discussion at the appropriate time.”
Another factor that Bieniemy felt was being glossed over in this was that going into the half wasn’t just his decision — it was the decision of Coach Reid and the rest of the staff. Mahomes wasn’t just frustrated with Bieniemy, he was frustrated with a collective decision made by the coaching staff at the moment.
“The conversation happened,” Bieniemy said. “I have no problems with players getting emotional and feeling how they feel. I embrace that. I embrace the energy and emotion that they bring. Could it be handled a little bit differently, professionally? Yes. But in that heat of the moment, you want your guys who want to go out and be the very best, who wants to come away victorious by any means necessary. So, the exchange that we had, who cares? It really doesn’t matter because when it’s all said and done with, we’re going to talk a minute or two later and talk about exactly what we need to do. There are no personal issues, you just keep it moving forward.”
All in all, Bieniemy seems very comfortable with how things transpired and the path forward for both himself and Mahomes. We’ll see if anything comes of this in the future, but for now it’s safe to say the coach and player are both moving forward as if nothing ever happened.
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