Chiefs Coach Eric Bieniemy ‘Reaching Out More’ to Team as Wife Mia Recovers After Shooting
Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Eric Bieniemy is keeping tabs on his team more than a week after his son was charged with shooting his wife
- The Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator left the team to be by Mia Bieniemy’s side in Virginia after the July 26 shooting
- Coach Bieniemy was set to begin his second stint with the team prior to the incident
Eric Bieniemy is keeping in touch with the Kansas City Chiefs as training camp continues, just over a week after his son, Elijah, was charged with shooting his wife, Mia.
“It was great to hear from him just from a personal standpoint,” Chiefs pass game coordinator Joe Bleymaier, who has since assumed many of Bieniemy’s duties, told reporters on Tuesday, Aug. 4. “You were just so devastated for him.”
Bleymaier added, “He has been reaching out more and more lately for the football stuff and that’s brought a sense of normalcy to our team, hearing from him and his thoughts on football.”
The offensive coordinator, 56, was along the sidelines for two days at rookie training camp before he flew to Virginia after learning his wife had been involved in a shooting on Sunday, July 26.
Mia, 57, was shot in the left forearm and shoulder with a .22 caliber firearm, according to a criminal complaint obtained by ABC News. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said on Wednesday, July 29, that she was in stable condition and out of the ICU.
Elijah, 27, was arrested and charged with three felonies — use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, malicious wounding and discharging a firearm within a building — in the shooting, which happened in Ashburn, Va., according to Loudoun County court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
Elijah is awaiting a mental health competency evaluation. A preliminary hearing, originally set for Monday, Aug. 31, is now scheduled for Sept. 9.
Credit: Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty; Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office
Coach Bieniemy was on the cusp of his second stint in KC, where he helped lead the team to three Super Bowl berths and two titles during his 10-year tenure from 2013-2023.
The longtime coach moved on to the Washington Commanders, UCLA and the Chicago Bears since then, but was welcomed back to the franchise by players and coaches alike due to his intensity and dedication.
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“We’ll hold it down and when [Bieniemy] gets back, we’ll be ready to have that intensity and energy. That’s what I love most about him,” Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III told reporters.
He added, “You can’t take a play off, because he’s going to say something to you about it.”
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