ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — From the outside looking in, anyway, Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has been conspicuous by his physical absence since July 26 in the wake of a family tragedy. In some ways, there is just no substitute for the real thing.

From the proving grounds of training camp at Missouri Western, the blaring and hypercritical energy the Chiefs brought him back for is 1,000 miles away in Virginia, where his wife, Mia, is recovering from a shooting their 27-year-old son Elijah is charged in connection with.

Maybe the simplest way to illustrate the contrast is with the demeanor of interim offensive coordinator Joe Bleymaier, a sharp and radiant but understated persona for whom you have to actively look to find on the field.

“Definitely a different style than E.B.,” Bleymaier said with a smile earlier this week. “Although I’ve lost my voice here already, so some of him has worn off on me. But, yeah, everyone has a different style.”

Even as any timetable for Bieniemy’s return remains obscured by — and secondary to — the needs of his wife and family, though, his presence looms over camp in more ways than meet the eye.

Maybe running back Kenneth Walker III put that best the other day when he offered a memo to Bieniemy: “Just take your time. We’ll hold it down for you.”

Emphasis on the “we” — a collective effort that the entire offensive staff is embracing in appreciation of Bieniemy.

A mission Bleymaier is honoring through his own approach animated by what he called that “little voice in the back of your head” emanating from Bieniemy.

So when I asked Bleymaier the other day about the greatest points of emphasis this camp, he didn’t speak about tweaking the offense.

Instead, he talked about “establishing the standard of what’s acceptable and what we’re going to stand for and how we’re going to operate as a unit.”

“So less so maybe schematically or philosophically what we’re going to do on the field,” he added, “it’s been a mindset … and just bringing everybody together and holding them to that standard.”

Lest Bieniemy’s considerable voice become diminished, Bleymaier said, it turns out he’s “brought a little sense of normalcy back to our routine” by “reaching out more and more lately with the football stuff.”

More and more, indeed:

It’s not just that Walker noted that Bieniemy has been taking part in Zoom calls with the offense and offering critiques in that forum.

Or that receiver and return specialist Nikko Remigio “absolutely” feels Bieniemy’s presence:

“If it’s not E.B. that’s saying it,” he said Thursday, “it’s the coaching staff that’s reiterating the stuff that he’s saying.”

Most of all, Bieniemy might as well be here in sensurround or casting his hologram over the proceedings.

“With technology, E.B. is live-streamed in (to practices),” general manager Brett Veach said with a smile Thursday.

That meant Veach the other day on the sideline next to coach Andy Reid received a phone call, which was problematic since cell phones are verboten by Reid on the field.

But when Veach saw it was Bieniemy, he felt compelled to answer.

No sooner did Veach answer the phone than Bieniemy said, “Put Coach on.”

Next thing you know, Bieniemy is telling Reid something along the lines of rookie running back Emmett Johnson needing to be 8 yards back instead of wherever he was in a particular formation.

“That’s the thing that is so refreshing to have back …” Veach said, speaking as if Bieniemy simply had remained on the field demanding accountability. “There’s never a safe space with him.”

To Veach, that dynamic figures to have a profound impact on a team whose offense twice led the league in scoring under Bieniemy and was in the top six all five seasons of his previous tenure on the job … only to tumble to 15th, 15th and 21st the last three years in his wake.

“It’s like you don’t realize what you missed until it’s back,” Veach said. “... Every organization and every team and every player in each position group, everyone needs a kick in the (rear).”

As he considered the Chiefs’ fall to 6-11 last season after playing in three straight Super Bowls and five of the last six overall, Veach associated at least some of that with falling off such demands and the details that come with it.

Maybe it stemmed from the comfort of so much winning, he added, among other things that went awry last season.

One way or another, though, it was a humbling experience that provided at least a few lessons.

Beyond the pivotal matter of health, much of the difference in winning and losing comes down to the margins and the details on third-and-shorts and such.

“You don’t become proficient at those things unless you’re buttoned up and you’re locked in,” Veach said. “If you take your foot off the gas here, you’re going to take your foot off the gas on Sundays.”

No wonder, then, that the spirit of Bieniemy remains an active ingredient here even through the equally driven but more nuanced voice of Bleymaier, who was considered for the coordinator job after Matt Nagy left and is well on trajectory to being a full-time offensive coordinator.

While he’s “only” been with the Chiefs since 2016, Bleymaier goes back decades with Reid and Veach, with whom he overlapped at the University of Delaware and has in common starting his NFL career as a (three-year, in his case) Philadelphia Eagles intern under Reid.

In between, Bleymaier earned his law degree from Marquette.

“When he got done with a law degree,” Veach joked, “I think he realized that ‘real work’ wasn’t smart and came back to football.”

More seriously, Veach pointed to how cerebral Bleymaier is — and how in-depth his understanding of the game is.

“He’s one of those guys that has, like, a video library that never ends,” Veach said.

To wit, Veach might see, say, a two-point conversion in a college football game and ask Bleymaier in his office if he’d seen it. At which point Bleymaier typically would say, “ ’Oh, yeah, come on in: 1984 Rose Bowl, they ran it right here.’ And (he’d) pull it up.”

Which helps explain why Bleymaier has become what Veach called “instrumental” to the Chiefs offense the last few years and a key part of trying to grow and adapt now.

Including by channeling Bieniemy as best he can while staying within his own personality.

“I think the guys want to be held accountable, and they want someone to just constantly remind them (to) not let anything slide …” Bleymaier said. “When you have 100 plays, the tendency can be to point out the stuff that’s egregious and then to let the little stuff slide … so that it doesn’t appear for 100 plays you’re just constantly nitpicking.

“But that’s the role of the coordinator. That’s the role of whoever’s in that position, is to continually uphold the standard.”

He added: “We miss E.B., but we don’t have a leadership void. Everybody kind of understands what the standard is.”

All the more so with Bieniemy so engaged even from afar.

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