Last Tuesday night, head coach Chip Kelly was fired by the Philadelphia Eagles with one game remaining in the 2015 regular season. In three seasons, Chip Kelly compiled a 26-21 record and led the team to a division title in 2013 as the Eagles head coach. I believe the Eagles organization will regret losing Chip Kelly. They do not think he is the right man for the job in the Eagles organization, but I believe any other team would be lucky to pick up Kelly as their head coach.
Kelly took over the Eagles and turned the franchise around. After a 4-12 season in 2012, Kelly took over and went 10-6. He also helped the team win the division and then followed up 2014 with another 10-6 record with three quarterbacks, Nick Foles, Michael Vick, and Mark Sanchez. Under his coaching, the Eagles beat Tom Brady and the Patriots this year, when the Patriots were on their hot winning streak. Yet the Eagles do not think he can coach.
Just because the Eagles don't see his value, NFL organizations should not be scared to go out and hire Chip Kelly as their head coach. Plenty of successful people have been fired such as Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Mark Cuban, J.K. Rowling, Jerry Seinfeld, and the list goes on. There are so many reasons why people get fired. A market could downsize, there could be a bad boss in control, or an employee could be trying to emphasize the creation of a culture but nobody else gets it. All of these people listed above have been extremely successful even after being fired at one point and many of them are geniuses in the eyes of many people.
The reality is that Kelly should be viewed as a genius, as well. When he took over Oregon in 2009, he turned them into a national powerhouse. He led them to two Rose Bowls, a Fiesta Bowl, and the National Championship game. He went 46-7 in four seasons at Oregon and put them on the map where now every high school football player in the nation wants to go to Oregon. And the Eagles think Kelly cannot coach?
He came into the Eagles organization and won the division with, at best, average quarterbacks. When these quarterbacks have left Kelly to go to another team they have not done anything. And the Eagles think Kelly cannot coach?
Bill Belichick, Jim Harbaugh, Pete Carrol, Jon Gruden, Tony Dungy are all great NFL coaches and what do they have in common? They have also been fired at some point. In the NFL, if you, the coach, do not have an elite quarterback, then you get fired. Belichick was in Cleveland and could not get a good quarterback and he got fired. Tom Brady then fell into his lap in New England and now look what he has done over the past 15 years. Belichick started off 5-11 and 0-2 in New England until Tom Brady came around. The Eagles are bailing on Kelly after having two 10-6 seasons with below average quarterbacks, and then being 6-9 during his third year with Sam Bradford running the offense.
In the NFL, you can maybe win some games with a very good defense and an average quarterback. Maybe even win a division. And Kelly did that. You are not going to win big. No team will win the NFC, AFC, and definitely not the Super Bowl with a below average quarterback.
Kelly turned Nick Foles into a borderline MVP candidate over the first two years he coached. How many NFL coaches could do that? With the Titans and Colts head coaching jobs opening up with Andrew Luck and Marcus Mariota at quarterback, there should be some very nervous NFL teams hoping one of those teams do not hire Kelly. If Kelly were to get hired by a team with a dynamite quarterback, teams could be in trouble.
Kelly did not have a star quarterback, nor did he have the help around him and just like the rest of the coaches listed above, he got canned. The Eagles are turning their back on Kelly because he could not get the best out of Sam Bradford, who is just a dreadful quarterback. Just because he hasn't been given the best talent, doesn't mean he cannot coach; the Eagles organization are crazy to think that.
