NFL Super Bowl 57 overreactions: Chiefs dynasty in progress, Eagles penalty will sting
Mackenzie Salmon ‘overreacts’ to Super Bowl 57 and all the biggest storylines from the game.
USA TODAY
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid spoke with a Fox sideline reporter soon after winning Super Bowl 57 and between the exuberance and the smiling and joy, Reid made a point to say something after praising quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“Eric Bieniemy was phenomenal also,” said Reid.
Later, while accepting the Lombardi Trophy and dodging fat jokes from Terry Bradshaw, who apparently doesn’t have a mirror, Reid again went out of his way to make a point.
“Eric Bieniemy was tremendous down the stretch,” Reid said, “…putting things together.”
Reid mentioned Bieniemy a third time in an interview with ESPN. Sure, Reid mentions Bieniemy a lot, but there was definitely a pattern after the game.
SUPERHERO: Patrick Mahomes shows true grit, lifting KC to Super Bowl crown
SORRY HATERS: Super Bowl 57 is the Blackest, most woke Super Bowl ever
In the pregame, Fox’s Jay Glazer said Reid would not shut the door on retiring. Reid seemed to squash that talk after the game, but being all tin foil hat-y, I thought Reid was possibly making sure his offensive coordinator’s name was mentioned because maybe Reid was stepping down.
There’s long been a theory that Bieniemy was staying in Kansas City as Reid’s replacement. Maybe it was time.
The most likely thing Reid was doing with his postgame praise of Bieniemy was making sure no one forgets Bieniemy, despite the fact that year after year, season after season, despite coordinating one of the best offenses in recent history, Bieniemy continues to get passed over.
Actually, “passed over” is too nice a phrase to use. Eric Bieniemy will likely get screwed again.
If you say Reid is the true genius behind this offense, well, that’s true. But we’ve seen assistants under great minds become head coaches on other teams. That list is as long as Mahomes’ accomplishments.
We’ve seen college coaches with no NFL experience get hired. NFL coaches who weren’t coordinators get hired. My mom apparently will get hired to become a head coach before Bieniemy.
Super Bowl 57 saw a first: two Black starting quarterbacks in the big game. Post-Super Bowl 57, we may see one of the best coordinators, who happens to be Black, passed over yet again.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the remaining few teams that need head coaches will hire Bieniemy. But it doesn’t seem that way. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Indianapolis plans to hire Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen as head coach of the Colts.
Steichen is solid, but he’s been an offensive coordinator for three years (two with the Eagles); Bieniemy has held the position since 2018. Kansas City has made multiple Super Bowls. Hell, he should get hired solely on the fact that somehow tight end Travis Kelce constantly gets so wide open.
I can’t stress enough how unusual it is for someone with Bieniemy’s background to not get a head coaching job. There are few precedents, and, unfortunately, many of those are also Black men. Not all, but most. Brilliant men like Jimmy Raye II who didn’t get that head coaching shot he deserved. The same with Sherman Lewis, offensive coordinator for the Packers in the 1990s, among other teams, who was passed over the same way Bieniemy is now.
Bieniemy has been mentioned as a candidate for several offensive coordinator openings on other teams which, frankly, is remarkably insulting.
After the game, Mahomes hugged Bieniemy, celebrating together. Mahomes was asked what Bieniemy meant to him.
“E.B. means the world to me, man,” Mahomes told Kansas City journalist Darren Smith. “The way he holds me accountable. The way he makes me be great every single day. This man is one of a kind, one of the greatest.”
Hopefully, again, this is all wrong, and some team is ready to swoop in and hire Bieniemy in the coming days.
Doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen. Seems like he’s going to get passed over again.
As he has before.
And before that.
And before that.
