There are some men that are meant to be college coaches and some who are more suited for the professional game. Philadelphia’s Chip Kelly has shown this season that is he significantly more the former than the latter. As the Eagles spiral towards their worst season under the former Oregon Ducks head honcho, we take a look at what has gone wrong for Kelly’s system and where it could end up next.
It started off pretty damn good for Kelly in his transition from the collegiate to pro football scene. The Eagles completed dismantled their first attempt at a “super team” and gave Kelly the pieces that he believed would revolutionize the sport of professional football. Well like many of his predecessors who made such promises (Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban, Lou Holtz), Kelly’s panic pace offensive style did push an underachieving Eagles squad to a division title. Everything that the Eagles had come to be known for under Andy Reid was gone. But just like Reid’s teams, they folded come playoff time. Who would have thought that a one and done playoff run would be the high point of Kelly’s NFL resume?
The second year saw another 10-6 record but the cracks began to form in Kelly’s structure. Nick Foles’ follow-up to his scintillating 27 TD, 2 INT season was a complete flop as injuries and ineffectiveness mounted. It would have been the perfect time for Chip Kelly to adapt to the new situation and show off his supposed genius. Instead he attempted to soldier on stubbornly with his already figured out gameplan. Good coaches in the NFL have been ahead of trends and don’t get sucked into football fads (i.e. The Wildcat). Chip Kelly showed an unwillingness to take that leap ahead and it left his team on the outside of the playoff picture.
Heading into this season, owner Jeffrey Lurie added Head of Football Operations to the name plate on Chip Kelly’s door. This was a perplexing move as such a switch is made when the team is trending upward, not moving backwards. And while the post Donovan McNabb ills were before Kelly’s time, he seemed doomed to repeat them this winter. Chip started amassing players for his own version of Super Team 2.0. He traded for oft-injured former #1 pick Sam Bradford. He traded away former rushing leader LeSean McCoy to Buffalo which was met by a racially driven backlash spurred by the back. Chip then shocked the NFL by swooping in on Dallas’ Demarco Murray, the reigning rushing champ, and pairing him with the fragile yet talented Ryan Mathews. To be nice the results have been less than stellar.
After getting pasted on Thanksgiving Day by the Lions, the chatter surrounding Kelly’s impending exit has gotten louder. Rumors continue to swirl about which embattled college coach will step aside for Kelly’s arrival at season’s end. A trip home to the Pac-12 at USC seems to be the one being bantered about the most, but there are plenty of other options that could free up as Philadelphia watches the postseason from their homes.
SEC schools LSU and South Carolina as well as Big XII outfits Texas and Iowa State could be looking for a coach like Kelly next year as well. The ink won’t even be dry on Kelly’s termination papers before college athletic directors are bombarding him with texts and calls looking to schedule an interview. It will just be interesting to see the approach he takes to his next gig. You would think that he’d cater his player pool to his system like he did at Oregon. But after the debacle that has been the 2015 Eagles, it would be up for debate as to whether or not he even knew how to do that anymore.