Eagles Fire Coach Chip Kelly

In just under three seasons in the NFL, the Chip Kelly experiment barely got off the ground. If it is to continue, it won’t be in Philadelphia, as the Eagles fired the former Oregon coach on Tuesday night.

“We appreciate all the contributions that Chip Kelly made and wish him every success going forward,” Eagles owner Jeff Lurie said in a statement released by the team. Those contributions weren’t enough to keep him in Philly, though.

In almost three full seasons, Kelly led the team to a 26-21 record, including 6-9 this season. The defense had allowed over 40 points three times in the past seven games and the offense, which was supposed to be Kelly’s laboratory, never performed consistently.

Pat Shurmur, the Eagles’ offensive coordinator, will serve as interim head coach for this weekend’s regular season finale. After that game, Lurie, team president Don Smolenski and Howie Roseman, the executive vice president of football operations, will begin a search for the next Eagles head coach.

While the news reportedly came as a surprise to some players, there are reports that others had been voicing their displeasure with Kelly. Several weeks ago, running back DeMarco Murray infamously spoke to Lurie on a team flight about his role in the offense; it’s hard to imagine that no one else had similar sentiments.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Kelly, who sought to change the entire way the Eagles functioned. One possible landing place for him is Tennessee, where he could be reunited with his former Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota.

 

Photo: Head coach Chip Kelly of the Philadelphia Eagles looks on during the game between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles at Gillette Stadium on December 6, 2015 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)