It’s completely understandable if you paid little to no attention to the final preseason game. With summer coming to a close and the State Fair opening back up after a year away, I wouldn’t blame you one bit if you decided to spend your Friday night doing literally anything other than watch the Minnesota Vikings sleepwalk their way through a third-straight preseason defeat.
While the preseason has always been about allowing bottom-of-the-roster guys to either make the team or put quality film on tape in hopes of catching on with an organization elsewhere, that might not exactly have been the case for Friday night’s preseason finale between the Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of fireworks courtesy of the reigning AFC Champions, as Patrick Mahomes led two effortless scoring drives that resulted in touchdown passes to Tyreek Hill and Blake Bell before taking the rest of the night off.
But after Mahomes and the rest of Kansas City’s starting offense hit the sidelines for the remainder of the game, it wasn’t an unknown, undrafted free agent who made the biggest impression on Friday night.
Even though Kansas City’s UDFA rookie backup quarterback, former University of Texas and SMU quarterback Shane Buechele, looked great after spelling Mahomes for the final three-and-a-half quarters, it was Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy whose star shined brightest in the final tune-up for both teams.
For the fans that would presumably wish to get the time back that they wasted on watching the Vikings’ offense over the past three preseason games, watching Kansas City’s backups was a different level of efficiency than Minnesota has experienced throughout the preseason.
Unlike Minnesota’s UDFA backup quarterback, Jake Browning — who has been with the Vikings since 2019 — Buechele stepped in and certainly looked the part of a quarterback who belongs in the National Football League. After his first few drives stalled, Buechele led a beautiful 88-yard, two-minute-drill drive against the Vikings’ defense that culminated in a 23-yard touchdown pass to receiver Marcus Kemp on third-and-15. Buechele completed 8-of-12 passes for 98 yards on the drive.
Following a lost fumble on his opening drive of the second half, Bieniemy — who Andy Reid allows to call plays in the preseason — dialed up a perfectly executed 56-yard screen pass to running back Derrick Gore for Buechelle’s second touchdown of the night.
Buechele was 20-of-33 for 233 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and one lost fumble by the end of the night. Not bad for a guy who’s been with the team for four months.
As Browning, Kellen Mond, and Vikings offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak have demonstrated throughout the course of the preseason, effectively moving the ball is no easy task. And to watch the ease with which the Chiefs were able to move the ball against the Vikings is a direct testament to the continuity and culture that Reid and Bieniemy have been able to build, as this will be their ninth season together in Kansas City.
Make no mistake about it, it’s extremely rare to have an assistant coach and/or coordinator stay with a particular head coach or organization for nearly a decade. But that’s what Bieniemy has with Reid and Kansas City, as his role in this offense has made him a popular head coaching candidate — despite being passed over for head coaching vacancies after the past two cycles.
There’s no doubt that the time will come when Bieniemy will have an opportunity to lead an NFL franchise, as Reid’s coaching tree has had a tremendous amount of success throughout the league. Currently, there are four NFL head coaches who previously served as coordinators for Reid — Matt Nagy, John Harbaugh, Sean McDermott, and Ron Rivera. And Reid’s longtime assistant and offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City, Doug Pederson, was recently fired just three years after winning the Super Bowl inside U.S. Bank Stadium.
Bieniemy is next in line for the Reid coaching tree. And with the Wilfs in attendance at Arrowhead Stadium on Friday night, the former Vikings running backs coach from 2006-10 undoubtedly made an impression on Vikings ownership.
Friday night’s showing was a reminder of just how powerful this Chiefs offense can be with Reid and Bieniemy calling the shots. Just in case the Wilfs forgot about what happened the last time they were in Arrowhead Stadium — when former high school football coach and third-string quarterback Matt Moore beat the Vikings in 2019.
Should the time come over the next few months where the Vikings feel the need to move on from Mike Zimmer — who currently ranks 14th among 25 qualifying active NFL head coaches in career winning percentage with their current team — you like to think that the Wilfs will look back on this night and what transpired on the Chiefs’ sideline in the preseason finale with Bieniemy dialing it up for an undrafted rookie quarterback.
