Eric Bieniemy didn’t get any of the openings in this coaching carousel spin. And that’s bad on the teams who missed a chance to grab a bright mind and student of the game of football.
The Chiefs’ offensive coordinator was born in 1921 but that didn’t prevent him from coming up with a play that was used 20 years earlier when Kansas City faced a fourth down early in Super Bowl LIV.
You can’t always believe what you see is that the 49ers learned after being burned. Kansas City’s backfield looked like a choreographed boy band as it spun in unison. What San Francisco didn’t realize was quarterback Patrick Mahomes had moved behind the guard. That allowed Damien Williams to take a direct snap and run for the first down.
Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy says he got this play design from watching this old Rose Bowl game. Michigan ran it over & over in a 49-0 win over USC pic.twitter.com/0uGYxxUnST
— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) February 3, 2020
Pretty cool. Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy said they stole that first TD play from Michigan in an old Rose Bowl vs. USC. I looked, and yep. This is from New Year's Day 1948. Fritz Crisler = visionary pic.twitter.com/bcWp5BEf0h
— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) February 3, 2020
“You know what that game, that play comes from – if I’m not mistaken – a 1949 Rose Bowl (actually ’48),” Bieniemy said. “I probably shouldn’t be giving this away. The Rose Bowl Michigan vs. USC. And so, it’s just a play that we’ve been working and wondering when we can polish it off. It was fun to watch. It was fun to watch. And those guys did a great job of executing it. I mean all that hard work and practicing that play for the entire season, it just worked and it paid off.”
Michigan won that game 49-0 over USC to complete an undefeated season. Bienemy did a great job finding the play and using it to perfection in the Super Bowl.