“Let the Bleed Out Begin”

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We don’t have to wait for ‘Black Monday’ to get here.

The Philadelphia Eagles beat everyone to the punch on ‘Takeout Tuesday’ with the surprise, stealth firing of Chip Kelly as coach, just 5-days before they were to play the final game of a lousy (6-9) football season.

Kelly, who was going to revolutionize the NFL upon his arrival, was done in by a player revolt, by his heavy handed policies, and his back room back stabbing. That spectacular run he had with the Oregon Ducks didn’t really translate that well on the NFL landscape.

The smartest man in the room was going to run a Video Game offense, no one could stop. He was going to forever change the sports nutrition and the lifestyle of players thru a scientific process. He was going to make the right player decisions as it relates to the talent level on the roster.

The end result was a (26-23) record, but a downturn that saw the guys wearing Midnight Green turn to back, losing games, and losing faith in his leadership ability. They dropped 12-of-their last 19 games dating back to last December.

He went thru 3-starting quarterbacks in less than 3-years. Nick Foles had one mystical season, then fell apart, leading to his departure. Sam Bradford,coming off two knee surgeries, labored with turnovers, hits, and plain struggled in what they were running.

Kelly, the so-called smartest man in the room, got rid of Foles, traded away LeSean McCoy, ran off DeSean Jackson, made no effort to re-sign Jeremy Maclin, and blew out two offensive guards.

His defenses were blown off the field, giving up 40-points or more three times in their late season spiral.

What he ran was unconventional, caught teams by surprise, but in the end, it went the way of lots of other gimmick packages. The run and shoot, the pistol, the power I, were all figured out in due time, by NFL coaches. You see enough of it on video, you can defend it. It all caught up with him.

Kelly may resurface in another NFL job, maybe with the Colts, where there is Andrew Luck, or in Tennessee, home of Marcus Mariota. He will need a special style of quarterback to run his package, and those guys seem few and far between.

Maybe he sits and collects money for a year, visits many of his coaching friends, and goes back to college next year, where the turnover rate goes up and up. There surely will be more quality jobs next year, much like there were this year at Florida, Georgia, Virginia Tech, South Carolina, USC and other spots.

In the end, the smart guy outsmarted himself, thinking his system could beat the years and years of experience defensive coordinators have looking at Xs and Os. Mr. Smarty-Pants didn’t prove to very good at player evaluations either, leaving behind, an ill-fitting offense, and a terrible defense.

Kelly joins Steve Spurrier, Butch Davis,Lou Holtz, Bobby Petrino, Barry Switzer, Nick Saban and others, who came with fanfare, left as failures. Not everyone can be a Jimmy Johnson. Chip Kelly sure wasn’t.

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