Kansas City Chiefs' Eric Bieniemy Absent from Training Camp Following Family Shooting

The Kansas City Chiefs held their first full-squad workout of training camp Wednesday without offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who remained with his family after the shooting of his wife – allegedly by their son – at their Virginia home last weekend. Chiefs coach Andy Reid said after the workout that Mia Bieniemy had been released from the intensive care unit, where she was being treated for multiple gunshot wounds. But there was no timetable for when Eric Bieniemy would be back with the team.

“She’s making progress,” Reid said, “so we’re happy about that.”

Elijah Zion Bieniemy, the 27-year-old son of the couple, was arrested in connection with the late-Sunday shooting. He was charged with malicious wounding, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and discharge of a firearm inside a dwelling, and was being held without bond Wednesday at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center. Elijah Bieniemy has a court date to hear motions scheduled for Thursday. His preliminary hearing date is 31 August.

Eric Bieniemy returned earlier this year to the Chiefs, where he experienced his greatest success as an assistant. He was instrumental in Kansas City reaching three Super Bowls and winning two of them before departing for the Washington Commanders in 2023, where he had wanted to build upon his resumé in the hopes of landing a head coaching job. Bieniemy was part of Ron Rivera’s staff that was let go after that season. He spent one season as offensive coordinator at UCLA before spending last season coaching the running backs with the Chicago Bears.

However long he misses training camp is noteworthy, given Bieniemy is trying to get up to speed with any changes to Reid’s playbook over the past few years. Pass game coordinator Joe Bleymaier, who has been with the Chiefs for the past decade and is widely considered a rising star in the profession, has assumed many of Bieniemy’s responsibilities. Others have fallen upon veteran offensive line coach Andy Heck, who has held that job ever since Reid’s initial Kansas City coaching staff was put together after the 2012 season.