Who wouldn’t want to hire the hottest offensive coordinator in the NFL, who was part of leading the Kansas City Chiefs to their first Super Bowl win since they were members of the AFL?
Five teams, that’s who.
Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy had some interest, but he didn’t get a job offer after the 2019 season with the Chiefs beating the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.
Houston Texans interim coach Romeo Crennel has been there before, and his advice for Bieniemy is to keep grinding.
“I think he has to continue to keep working because he has done a good job,” Crennel said. “He’s with a good organization and I can tell even though Andy (Reid) calls the plays, he relies on Eric quite a bit because they talk a lot during the offensive sequence.”
Crennel would know considerably about the Chiefs’ organization given that he was defensive coordinator under coach Todd Haley from 2010-11 before taking over as interim with three games to go in 2011, and then parlaying that into the full-time job in 2012.
The Chiefs’ gig was Crennel’s second opportunity. His first came with the Cleveland Browns from 2005-08. Prior to that, Crennel was the defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots, who won three Super Bowls in four years starting with Crennel’s first season with the AFC East club in 2001.
Crennel has been there before.
Said Crennel: “When you talk about not having gotten a chance yet, the fact that you’re getting chances and getting interviews means that people are talking about you. Eventually, it’s going to happen for you. I think it’ll happen for him as well because, I mean, I had eight interviews before I got a head job, so just keep working, keep doing what you’re doing, winning Super Bowls and go on.”
The ironic part would be if Bieniemy ended up replacing Crennel as the Texans’ man on the sidelines. If so, it would be the result of Bieniemy taking Crennel’s advice and staying after it.