By admin 
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
Read our AI Policy.
- Eric Bieniemy remains away from the Chiefs while his wife recovers from a shooting.
- Their son, Elijah Bieniemy, has been arrested and charged with three felonies.
- Joe Bleymaier will call plays while Bieniemy is away during camp.
St. Joseph
The booming voice standing behind every snap the Chiefs’ offense takes — the voice they determined this particular offense needed back — provided the soundtrack for the first couple of days of camp.
Read more A’s take ‘tough’ extra-inning loss to Red Sox despite showing some bright spots
Its presence was unmistakable.
Its absence now is just as obvious.
Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy remains away from the team, instead with his wife, Mia, after she was shot in their Ashburn, Virginia townhome. Their son, 27-year-old Elijah, has been arrested and charged with three felonies in connection with the shooting.
As veterans joined the Chiefs’ rookies in St. Joseph on Wednesday for their first day of training camp, head coach Andy Reid said Mia Bieniemy is “making progress” and has been moved out of the intensive care unit and is “doing better.”
It’s a positive update in a story that has contained virtually none of them.
Sometimes it’s worth pausing to state the obvious: It’s a devastatingly tragic situation, one that strikes Eric Bieniemy from every which angle — his wife’s health and the unknown road ahead; the unthinkable alleged actions and potential consequences for his youngest son, Elijah; and the well-being of his oldest son, Eric III, who has cerebral palsy. Mia is the primary caregiver for Eric III.
Mia sits in a hospital bed while their son sits in a jail cell.
It’s difficult to fathom how many heart-wrenching things Bieniemy suddenly must consider, and just as difficult to fathom when he will consider much about football at all.
The Chiefs don’t know when Bieniemy will return to the team, Reid said, as you might suspect. The undercurrent of a day on which the Chiefs’ full roster reported for training camp isn’t about who is here, but instead who isn’t — and of course why he isn’t here.
How could football even matter?
The harsh reality of the NFL: The show, for now, still goes on without him.
Kind of.
It’s a different production in St. Joseph. Joe Bleymaier, typically the team’s passing game coordinator, is certainly capable of calling plays, a job he will take on while Bieniemy is away.
Bleymaier is equipped to be an offensive coordinator in this league, let alone call the shots in training camp practices, and he was among those Reid considered for the coordinator job when Matt Nagy left for the New York Giants. The role he is assuming now is one he should have permanently some day.
But the voice bellowing through the headset of quarterback Patrick Mahomes provides him an every-single-play reminder of Bieniemy’s absence. How strange it must be to process that — and then try to process a defensive look.
The unforgiving effects of this story hit everywhere, even if of lesser consequence than what the family is enduring, and they will for more than a while.
Bieniemy was brought back specifically to establish an everyday expectation with the Chiefs — to re-establish habits that have slipped through the cracks on offense over the past couple of years.
Read more What state beats all others as the best? Hint: It’s not California or New York
So, you know, exactly what the Chiefs are trying to establish right now.
The time the Chiefs will be without Bieniemy, however long that lasts into training camp, if not beyond, is therefore the exact time that they determined after a 6-11 season they needed him most. And it’s the exact time a roster of 90 players, or at least the 40-some offensive players, expected to hear from him most.
Bieniemy spent two days barking out instructions at rookie camp before being notified Sunday night of the tragedy in Virginia, where he and his family moved when the Washington Commanders named him their offensive coordinator in 2023 before one-year gigs at UCLA and with the Chicago Bears.
On Friday, as the Chiefs’ players and coaches reported to camp at Missouri Western State University, Bieniemy spent a little extra time in the parking lot, signing autographs for fans and taking photos.
Forty-eight hours later, his world changed.
His first stint in Kansas City spanned a full 10 years. It didn’t take more than 10 minutes for the youngest Chiefs players to get a feel for the direction camp would go — only for it to take a terrible detour. And it’s not even about them.
Mahomes was among the first Chiefs to stroll down the hill to the practice field on Wednesday. He had asked for Bieniemy’s return to Kansas City, a direction in which the Chiefs were already headed before his request.
Rashee Rice followed and then Xavier Worthy, two players — wide receivers — who knew they’d be hearing more from Bieniemy this summer in St. Joseph.
Travis Kelce came next, a bit subdued as he tapped the asphalt on the opening day of his 14th season. He’d spoken this summer about his excitement that Bieniemy would be back in the building.
Bieniemy is gone now, at least for the moment.
After the Chiefs strayed from their decade-long path, they will now have to stray from their plan to return to it.
All while his plan has forever changed.
This story was originally published July 29, 2026 at 12:53 PM with the headline “You can’t help but feel Eric Bieniemy’s absence as the Chiefs open camp.”
Read more Ilya Kharun breaks meet record in 50m butterfly at U.S. Championships