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Since becoming the head coach of the Chicago Bears early in the offseason, Ben Johnson has made nothing but big moves in regard to his coaching staff. Of them, Johnson brought former Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Commanders assistant Eric Bieniemy back to the NFL after a one-year stint as UCLA's offensive coordinator.
Bieniemy will join Johnson's staff as the Bears' running backs coach in 2025. Despite his up-and-down results, Bieniemy is widely respected as one of the top offensive assistants in the league, giving Johnson a lot of reasons to be excited about his hire.
“He's going to coach the piss out of these running backs now,” Johnson said, via ESPN's Courtney Cronin. “That's what he does. I had probably half a dozen people that have worked with him in the past [text me]. They said, ‘You just hired the best running backs coach in the NFL.'”
After seven years of working as an offensive coordinator, Bieniemy will return to solely coaching running backs for the first time since 2017. He rose to prominence as a coach due to his work as the Chiefs' running backs coach, where he mentored Jamaal Charles and Kareem Hunt. Under Bieniemy, Hunt led the league in rushing yards as a rookie in 2017.
Following his success as a running backs coach, the Chiefs promoted Bieniemy to offensive coordinator in 2018. He continued to thrive in his new role, becoming a key part of Kansas City's two Super Bowl victories over the next four seasons. Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes' continuous praise of Bieniemy briefly had him viewed as an eventual head coaching candidate.
However, instead of accepting a head coaching job, Bieniemy signed with the Washington Commanders in 2023, where his success did not carry over. At the end of another disappointing season, the Commanders fired Ron Rivera and subsequently hired Dan Quinn, who did not retain Bieniemy.
Bears' running back struggles in 2024
Bieniemy will now coach with a Bears running back room led by D'Andre Swift, who ran for 959 rushing yards on just 3.8 yards per attempt in 2024. While most of his inefficiency was chalked up to a shoddy offensive line, Swift also struggled with his vision and acceleration.
In addition to working with Bieniemy, Swift will reunite with Johnson, his former offensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions. Swift had his most successful season with Johnson and the Lions in 2023.
Behind Swift, the Bears also roster Roschon Johnson and Travis Homer, both of whom return to the team. Johnson finished third on the team in 2024 with just 150 rushing yards on a mere 2.7 yards per attempt.
After hiring Bieniemy, the Bears attempted to add Hunt in free agency, hoping to reunite the two in Chicago. Hunt instead re-signed with Kansas City on another one-year deal.
