The NFL can be a brutal grind. For the few athletes who make it to this level, the job is never truly done. Recently, during the Bears second round of OTAs, running backs coach Eric Bieniemy made headlines again with his intense coaching style. He was caught on video calling out Bears rookie running back Kyle Monongai for a less than stellar rep. Here’s how the exchange went:
Eric Bieniemy to RB Kyle Monongai:
“Boy, you look like an old ass man.”
Monongai:
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“You love me!”
Bieniemy:
“I don’t love yo ass.”
Bieniemy had a point—Monongai’s rep wasn’t his best that day. But you have to respect the passion Bieniemy brings to the Bears coaching staff and practices. He’s easily one of Ben Johnson’s best hires, which is impressive given the talent and experience Johnson was able to assemble in his first NFL head coaching job.
For those who’ve played football, this is just practice—nothing more. But it’s clear the Bears coaches have the players bought in, and that energy is exciting to see. The Bears will continue their OTAs throughout the week and will finish on Friday.
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At first, I was very skeptical of the Bieniemy hire but maybe this is his calling card, a good assistant coach that at times you have to watch to see if he’s still carrying the HC’s message. He was right about the 7th round pick, he looked like an old man shuffling his feet. Still hoping for a decent last day training camp cut at backup RB.
My favorite: “You on vacation?” “This ain’t no sightseeing tour!”
An old school principal used to say, “Work em hard, test em hard, grade em easy.” That approach has worked well with past good teams where they get after it very hard in practice and in the classroom (accountability) and game day feels like a vacation compared to the work during the week. Practicing easy so no one risks getting hurt has never worked well.
Eric was correct about Mono; he ran like he had an old man’s mononucleosis. He was pitiful.