Kansas City Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy is still having an undeniable impact at training camp in St. Joe from afar
Kansas City Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy remains with his wife in Virginia as she recovers. His impact is still being felt at training camp in St. Joe as his contributions have ramped up from afar.
Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy remains involved in training camp despite being away from the team following the shooting of his wife in their Virginia home.
Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy left training camp last week to tend to his wife after their son, Elijah Bieniemy, was arrested in connection with the shooting of his mother, Mia Bieniemy. The 27-year-old has been charged with three felonies, but his court appearances were ultimately delayed pending a mental health evaluation.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spoke to reporters earlier this week, providing an update on Mia Bieniemy’s status.
“On the Eric Bieniemy side of it, Mia’s doing better,” Reid said. “She keeps improving by the day, so that’s a positive. There’s no timetable on EB coming back or any of that, so he just needs to take care of business there, and then when he gets back here, he gets back here.”
Bieniemy returned to Kansas City this offseason for a second stint as offensive coordinator after spending time with the Chicago Bears last season. It’s clear that he remains involved in some ways at training camp despite being away with his wife in Virginia.
Joe Bleymaier, Andy Heck, and others stepping up in place of Eric Bieniemy
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Chiefs passing game coordinator Joe Bleymaier explained the role he and others have taken in Bieniemy’s absence. While acting as offensive coordinator temporarily, the duties have spread out among the staff.
“Yeah, we’ve just stepped up,” Bleymaier said. “We miss EB obviously, but in the meantime, everybody (has stepped up). Coach Heck has taken on more roles with the run game and the offensive line. All the position coaches have stepped up. There’s just a little bit more administrative stuff to handle, but we’ve been doing this a long time. We all kind of know what’s expected, and we’ve just been rolling from there.”
Things have been rolling and going smoothly without Coach Bieniemy, but Bleymaier says it has been refreshing to get him back into the football side of it all after the tragedy that occurred.
“He keeps in touch,” Bleymaier said. “It was great to hear from him, just because just on a personal standpoint, you were just so devastated for him, and so gave him some time, and he’s been reaching out more and more lately with some of the football stuff. So that’s kind of brought a little bit of sense of normalcy back to our routine, just hearing him and his thoughts on the football.”
Bieniemy remains in touch with the coaching staff and continues to ramp up his communication on the football side heading into one of the most important stretches of training camp.
Kansas City Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy still providing feedback to players while away
Coach Bieniemy isn’t just in contact with the coaching staff. He is participating in various ways, including team meetings. Kansas City Chiefs RB Kenneth Walker knows it’s part of his responsibility as a veteran to hold down the fort while Bieniemy is away. Walker also knows he has to help maintain the standard Bieniemy sets on a snap-by-snap basis.
“First off, prayers to his family,” Walker said. “You know, just take his time. Until then, we’ll hold it down. You know, and when he gets back, we’re ready to have that intensity and that energy. That’s what I love most about him, and how detailed he was with everything, like passing, blocking, running. You can’t take a play off because he’s gonna say something to you about it. So you know, you just gotta be on point with Coach EB.”
Asked whether he’d been texting or calling coach Bieniemy, Walker explained that Bieniemy is in team meetings via Zoom. Reid previously mentioned that Bieniemy had access to and would be watching all of the practice tape. It sounds as if he’s providing direct feedback in those team meetings based on his evaluation of that practice tape.
“We got to talk to him on Zoom,” Walker said. “You know he’s been in some of the meetings, and you know he’s still watching. So, he’ll be watching anything we mess up on; he’ll probably critique it and everything, and make sure we’re still on point with everything.”
The Chiefs are looking to uphold the standard coach Bieniemy brought back to the team in his return. The players don’t want to be caught slipping now because they know as soon as Bieniemy returns, they’ll all have to answer for it. It’s better to simply keep chopping wood the way Bieniemy likes it done.
