Former Kansas City Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill revealed an interesting look into some things that went on behind-the-scenes leading up to the divisional round playoff win over the Buffalo Bills.
Hill discussed the infamous “13 seconds” game with Bills S Jordan Poyer on his podcast “It Needed To Be Said.” The Chiefs had lost handily to Buffalo in Week 5, in part because of a pick-six that bounced off of Hill’s hands and into the waiting arms of Bills S Micah Hyde. Leading up to the divisional round game in the playoffs, Hill says that Bieniemy challenged the players to take accountability for the loss earlier in the regular season.
“Our offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, like he’s a madman,” Hill said, via Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. “He was cussing us out all week. Saying, ‘Y’all let these MFs come in here and whoop y’all like that. Like, c’mon man, y’all gotta have some respect on y’all name in this building, in this organization,’ and stuff like that. And, like, I could just sense in the guys’ eyes and hearts, and I just felt the energy. Like guys like really took that and like ran with it, the whole week. Like practice was perfect. No drops like during the whole week. Defense was flying around. Everybody was doing what they were supposed to do. And we all were on the same page.”
It’s not too surprising to hear that Bieniemy held the players accountable for the results back in Week 5, even if his style of holding the players accountable might be considered abrasive. Reminding the team of that game and inspiring them to do better in a win-or-go-home playoff game is exactly what he’s paid to do. And if we’re to believe what Hill says, it worked.
Hill also implied that the Chiefs were going through some things as a team back in Week 5, but stopped short of saying exactly what those things were (ironic given the name of his podcast). We can assume it was tension related to the poor start to the season for the team. Kansas City had lost two close games and was struggling to find consistency on both offense and defense early on.
Whatever the case, Bieniemy proved to be the spark that inspired a flawless week of practice, preparation and execution against the Bills on the offensive side of the ball. It’s yet another example of why he’s deserving of an opportunity to be a head coach in the NFL.
