If the Minnesota Vikings 2021 season is similar to the 2020 campaign pear-shaped, there is unexpectedly a way to Eric Bieniemy as head coach available.
Bieniemy, the current offensive coordinator in Kansas City, has been under investigation over the past two seasons for duties to head coaches by Bengals, Browns, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Dolphins, Eagles, Falcons, Chargers, Giants, Jets, Lions and Texans. Mathematically, it’s about 40% of all NFL teams who have chosen another coaching candidate over 51-year-old Bieniemy.
Something has to give.
The Vikings will not experience a depressing season in 2021, as several notable injured players will return and are likely to make an impact. But 2020 should not have been a 7-9 year either. Minnesota is predicted by oddsmakers to win 9-10 games and fight the Green Bay Packers for the NFC North Division. Instead, the Vikings jumped 1-5, made an inter-season surge and collapsed again when a play-off chair was at stake.
The 7-9 final shortened the lead of Mike Zimmer’s seven years of service to the Vikings. He may not start the season with a topless butt, but any semblance of an overwhelming year – injuries or no injuries – will call for speeding up his expulsion.
At Bieniemy, the Chiefs offensive guru is already coveted by Vikings loyalists. Kansas City has put together three full seasons of giant offensive productions, and Minnesota fans believe he can do the same in the North Star State.
If 2021 is Zimmer’s last year with the franchise, Bieniemy will be there as the new Vikings captain.
Passed … Again
Per Marcellus in Hamlet, something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
For unknown reasons, numerous teams gave the chance to give Bieniemy the big task. The gossipy consequences are that the man conducts poor interviews. Well, it’s not because of the lack of eloquence or cordiality. Physically attract any YouTube stream Bieniemy, and this theory is immediately exposed.
Even teams known for hiring leg coaches – the Jets and Browns – have passed on a Bieniemy audition. It may not be conspiratorial or race-driven, but some mysterious force or cause does not allow a very productive offensive coordinator to realize his natural progress as an NFL coach.
At some point, an NFL franchise will take the plunge – and it should have happened by now. Forget conspiracy theories, skin color or any other strange reasoning, the man can look like a real hobbit and still act as a head coach based on his achievements so far in Kansas City.
The longer the NFL messes with its candidacy, the more curious the ordeal becomes. If the Vikings do indeed make a coaching change, it could be the franchise that ends the senseless mystery on Bieniemy’s job search.
The proverbial “Vikings Ties”
A hypothetical Bieniemy-to-Minnesota deal is not based on a “maybe LeBron James game for the Timberwolves” fantasy land. Bieniemy has a real connection with the Vikings. Do you remember the era of Adrian Peterson? You do. Bieniemy was the starting coach at the beginning of the Peterson days. Check out Adrian Peterson stats and scores to see if Bieniemy did well.
Bieniemy joined Minnesota in 2006 at the beginning of Brad Childress’ tenure. He was in charge of the backs and was later promoted to assistant head coach for the fateful 2010 season. There is also a sentimental bond with Minnesota. The Vikings offered the Chiefs coordinator his first professional coaching performance. Before wearing purple and gold cycling gear, he coached running rugby at the University of Colorado and UCLA. Minnesota gave him an NFL coaching opportunity – and by the way, here’s a Hall-of-Famer in Adrian Peterson.
Such commitments are important in coaching relationships. The present-day Vikings ownership was the same bunch from Bieniemy’s first Vikings period. It’s not strange for the Wilfs to approach Bieniemy if the team has a subject coaching position in 2021.
The Mahomes-Reid-Bieniemy debate
Bieniemy is a happy man in terms of wins and losses and his roster environment. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has finally broken through to the Super Bowl club. His Chiefs overturned the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV. Kansas City is heading back to the championship in February in what appears to be the continuation of a burgeoning dynasty.
Reid can earn a lot of credit for the dynastic flirtation, but some [a lot] must stand on the threshold of Patrick Mahomes’ forward. The Texas Tech alumnus has managed enough to anoint reasonable football heads in three seasons as his greatest quarterback talent ever – at the age of 25.
Is Bieniemy attached to any props for the Chiefs triumph? Not really – apparently. Should he be presented? Absolutely. Think of ‘equal pay for equal work’ vibrations.
And it looks like the football gods Bieniemy are heading in the direction of Minnesota – at least through a series of strange events.
