Eric Bieniemy‘s status with the Chiefs briefly entered murky territory, with the longtime Kansas City offensive coordinator’s contract expiring. The sides will continue to work together, according to NFL.com’s Jeffri Chadiha, who tweets Bieniemy will be back for a fifth season as Chiefs OC.

Bieniemy agreed to a one-year extension with the Chiefs, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. A Chiefs assistant throughout Andy Reid‘s nine-year tenure, Bieniemy has been the team’s OC throughout Patrick Mahomes‘ QB1 run.

A fixture on head-coaching carousels in recent years, Bieniemy has been unable to land a top job. This year, interest was not as widespread; only the Broncos and Saints interviewed the veteran Reid lieutenant. Bieniemy, 52, was not a finalist for the Denver job, and New Orleans went with an in-house promotion (Dennis Allen). As a result, the Chiefs will once again ensure continuity.

For the first time in Bieniemy’s Kansas City OC stint, some doubt surfaced about his role. A report indicated the 2021 season was somewhat trying for Bieniemy mentally and the prospect of sitting out 2022 or returning to the college ranks emerged. Bieniemy’s inability to secure a head-coaching job has been a lightning-rod topic for a bit now. Given the Chiefs’ performance on offense over the past four seasons, Bieniemy should not have been expected to be readying for a fifth year as K.C.’s OC. Reid promoted Bieniemy from running backs coach to OC in 2018, after Matt Nagy became the Bears’ head coach. Nagy followed Doug Pederson in being a Reid OC to land a coaching job.

The Reid-Mahomes-Bieniemy partnership has delivered one of the NFL’s all-time great aerial attacks, with Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill having a significant say in the Chiefs’ success as well. Kansas City’s offense hit a bit of a road block this year around the midseason point, but the team still ended the season in the top five in total offense and points scored.

The Chiefs have boasted a top-six offense in each year of Bieniemy’s OC stay, though Reid being the team’s primary play-caller has undoubtedly affected Bieniemy’s chances of being hired as a head coach elsewhere. Kansas City is also coming off a shocking ending to its season, which featured Cincinnati erase an 18-point deficit in the AFC championship game.

We learned earlier this week that Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy, who is set to become a coaching free agent, is not a lock to return to Kansas City. This morning, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reported that Bieniemy and KC head coach Andy Reid will soon sit down to discuss Bieniemy’s future with the club.

Bieniemy, 52, spent the 2013-17 seasons as the Chiefs’ RB coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2018. That, of course, was the year that Patrick Mahomes became the team’s full-time starter at quarterback, and as a result of Kansas City’s tremendous offensive success over the past four seasons, Bieniemy has become a popular figure on the head coaching interview circuit.

Still, he has yet to land a head coaching post, and although he has publicly said all of the right things about that reality, it could be starting to weigh on him. Schefter suggests that the 2021 season, which ended with a devastating loss in the AFC Championship Game and which was capped by more HC interviews that did not lead to HC jobs, was mentally and physically draining for Bieniemy. The ESPN scribe adds that Bieniemy has considered returning to the college ranks — he served as Colorado’s OC for two years before joining the Chiefs and was connected to the USC head coaching post earlier this year — listening to other offers, or even taking the 2022 season off entirely.

The Chiefs almost certainly want him back, however. He does not call the team’s offensive plays, but Kansas City has never been out of the top-six in terms of points per game or yards per game under his stewardship, and former QB coach Mike Kafka, who would have represented a potential replacement, was recently hired as the Giants’ new offensive coordinator.

USC fired head coach Clay Helton after two games, ending his six-plus-year tenure. The Trojans may look to a high-profile NFL coordinator to fill the vacancy.

NFL sources believe Eric Bieniemy will be a candidate for the job, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets, adding that this particular position is one of the only college gigs for which the Chiefs offensive coordinator will consider leaving the NFL.

Bieniemy has been with the Chiefs since Andy Reid’s 2013 Kansas City arrival, but he coached at the college level prior to moving to Missouri. The fourth-year Chiefs OC also went to high school in the Los Angeles area.

[RELATED: Bieniemy Addresses Head Coaching Pursuit] 

An interesting subplot has factored into Bieniemy’s accomplished OC run. Thought to be a slam-dunk hire in both the 2020 and ’21 offseasons, the 52-year-old assistant has failed to land a head coaching job. Taking over as Kansas City’s OC from Matt Nagy, who followed Doug Pederson in being hired for an HC post, Bieniemy has been in this role throughout Patrick Mahomes‘ dominant run as the Chiefs’ starting quarterback.

While it would make sense for Bieniemy to stay in arguably the NFL’s top coordinator situation and continue to pursue a top job at the sport’s highest level, USC is certainly a high-end college gig. Bieniemy is not the Chiefs’ primary play-caller, which has affected his perception at the NFL level, but working with Reid and Mahomes essentially ensures he will have a vital role on a top-tier NFL offense. It would seemingly take a monster offer to convince the veteran coordinator to leave these friendly confines.

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, citing sources close to Bieniemy, reports that Bieniemy would indeed be interested in the USC opening. Of course, if the school wants to find its next coach by Thanksgiving for recruiting reasons, Bieiemy would presumably not be a realistic target. And, as could be expected, Bieniemy has downplayed his connection to the job.

“[I]f USC reached out to me right now, my answer would be I am preparing for this team to play against the Baltimore Ravens,” Bieniemy said (via Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk). “And that’s how I roll, you guys know that. I am where my feet are, OK? My job is to make sure we’re ready to play a complete, sound, 60-minute football game where we can come out and win the game.”

Bieniemy is a Colorado alum but has experience coaching in Los Angeles, having been UCLA’s running backs coach in the 2000s. His top college role to date was as his alma mater’s offensive coordinator from 2011-12. A sign Bieniemy will be tough to pry from Kansas City: he withdrew his name from consideration for the Colorado HC job last year.