All of a sudden, football is on the back burner for Eric Bieniemy.
Real life trumps that every time.
Imagine the shock for Bieniemy, who returned this year to his old job as the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator, contacted at training camp on Sunday night with the horrible news: His wife, Mia, was shot multiple times at their home in Northern Virginia.
Thank God, Mia, 57, who is being treated for what authorities described as “serious injuries,” was in stable condition on Monday.
The tragedy is compounded, though, with the arrest of their oldest son, Elijah, held without bond andfacing three felony charges.
Real life. It puts football in perspective.
“Eric will work through it,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid told reporters following a rookie camp
practice on Monday. "He has a great support group here, as does his family, as needed. And then we’ll just let time take care of it from there."
Bieniemy, 56, obviously is on leave of absence with no attached timetable.
Never mind that the Chiefs veterans will report to the training camp at Missouri Western State University on Tuesday. The work of retooling the offense while star quarterback Patrick Mahomes recovers from knee surgery will proceed without Bieniemy – and be there whenever he comes back. Joe Bleymaier, the passing game coordinator in his 10th season on Reid’s staff, will handle offensive coordinator duties while Bieniemy is away.
“On these things, real life,” Reid added. “So, you take care of that, and that becomes important.”
Andy Reid offers Eric Bieniemy support
I don’t think there is a head coach in the NFL more sensitive to the crisis that has enveloped Bieniemy than Reid. In 2012, when Reid coached the Philadelphia Eagles, his training camp was rocked when his oldest son, Garrett, who worked for the team as an assistant strength and conditioning coach, was found dead in his dorm room of a heroin overdose. In 2021, Reid’s other son, Britt, was involved in a crash that left a girl, Ariel Young, in a coma for 11 days, among other injuries. It led to a DUI conviction and three-year sentence (which was later commuted) for the son who at the time worked as the Chiefs linebackers coach.
So, when Reid opened up on Monday in speaking about Bieniemy’s situation, it was wrapped with the compassion of someone who has walked in similar shoes of dealing with real-life crisis. In a high-pressure environment with unique challenges, Reid’s experiences undoubtedly add a layer of support and a resource for Bieniemy that could be invaluable.
“We all love E.B. and you hate seeing these things happen,” Reid said, “but there’s a blessing in there somewhere. And so, I know things will work out.”
What stood out
Watching Reid’s news conference reminded me of a specific point that Bieniemy made during our conversation in St. Joseph, Missouri, on Saturday, July 25, following the Chiefs’ first camp practice. In returning to the team after three years – he spent a season with the Washington Commanders, with the team’s Loudoun County, Virginia, headquarters near the home where the tragedy unfolded, followed by one-season stints at UCLA and with the Chicago Bears – he maintained that reuniting with Reid and the Chiefs felt like coming home.
He spent 10 seasons on Reid’s staff with the Chiefs in his previous stint, including the last five as offensive coordinator, but left to theoretically improve his chances of becoming an NFL head coach.
“The one thing you learn, it ain’t necessarily where you work, but more importantly, who you work with,” Bieniemy told USA TODAY Sports in an exclusive interview. “Do not get me wrong: All of those opportunities that I’ve had – great experiences, great organizations – I had the time of my life working for them. But when you become part of a family that you know from top to bottom, and you’re treated like family, you have a tendency to miss what you were a part of.”
Family. It sure sounded like that type of connection, too, as Reid spoke.
“Mia is stable, which is a plus,” Reid said. “And so is Eric (III). That’s all important, all right.”
Eric Bieniemy family
Eric III, the younger of the two Bieniemy sons, has cerebral palsy. During an interview in 2020, Bieniemy told me how his son impacted his growth as a coach and leader.
“The first five years of his life, we lived in and out of a hospital,” Bieniemy told me in 2020. “He’s confined to a wheelchair, but he doesn’t ask for any sympathy. Beautiful kid. He’s the backbone of our family. He’s the energy we feed off of. But what it also allows you is the sense to not take some of the things that we as people take for granted because our son doesn’t have blessings like others.”
Consider, too, how Mia’s role as a caregiver has been essential. Reid acknowledged as much with his remarks.
“She’s a saint. We all know that, the people that know her,” he said. “One of God’s blessings, right there now. Special person.
“But things happen. Things happen and you just have to work through it. That’s where we are right now. And time will have to be involved in this to help heal a little bit. But it’ll all work out in the long run.”
Visiting Eric Bieniemy at training camp
I spent three days at the Chiefs camp at St. Joseph, over the weekend, and besides the reality that all eyes were fixed on Mahomes as he recovers from knee surgery, no one had a bigger presence on the practice field than Bieniemy.
If you didn’t see him – huddling with Reid one minute, chatting with Mahomes a few minutes later – he could surely be heard. His intensity was palatable in moments that begged for some, well, extra volume as coaches are prone to use in pointing out mistakes.
It’s no wonder that Mahomes (like Reid and others in the Chiefs organization) are so upbeat about Bieniemy’s return and the energy that comes with him – along with his prickly demands for attention to details. He’s one of the league’s most respected assistant coaches for good reason.
We talked all football on Saturday, given his task to pump life into a Chiefs offense that skipped a few beats during the 6-11 tumble last season and heaped way too much of a load on Mahomes. He talked a lot about fundamentals, consistency and balance.
Of course, he was fired up to reconnect with Mahomes, who is on a fast track to fully recover from the torn ACL and LCL in his left knee suffered in mid-December.
“If there’s anybody that’s probably been a little more sensitive about his injury, it’s probably me,” Bieniemy told me. “Because I just want to make sure that he gets to the finish line. But also understanding Pat, Pat is a competitor. … And the thing I love about him is that he doesn’t take anything for granted.”
The same can be said for Bieniemy. Especially now, given another dose of real life that puts football in a different perspective.
Follow Jarrett Bell on X: @JarrettBell
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In Eric Bieniemy crisis, Andy Reid can offer more than most | Opinion
