Anthony DiBona
“Rome wasn’t built in a day.” That’s the excuse that many have used for Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly during the first three years of his tenure in the City of Brotherly Love. Sure, Rome wasn’t built in a day but I can guarantee you they made some damn progress in their first three years.
The same can’t be said for the Eagles under Kelly’s watch, in fact, they have taken a major step back this season. Which just so happens to be the first season with Kelly in full control of all personnel decisions. So it’s pretty obvious who is to blame for the embarrassment of a “team” the Eagles claim to be right now.
According to Phil Sheridan of ESPN.com, Kelly took all of the blame following Philadelphia’s embarrassing 45-14 loss to the Detroit Lions:
“I’m a coach, not a player,” Eagles coach Chip Kelly said. “It starts with me. I’m not pointing fingers at anybody, and I don’t think anybody points fingers at anybody [else]. … I think once you start pointing fingers and saying you blame it on somebody else, then you’ve lost what you have to do.”
Actions speak louder than words yet this all that Kelly can do at this point. This past offseason, he took action and we see how that has worked out for him. This was year one of Kelly’s true vision and it has failed miserably. Although nobody wants to talk about who “wins” or “loses” a trade after one season but it looks like the Eagles lost both of their offseason blockbuster trades during the offseason. Sam Bradford has looked mediocre at best and Kiko Alonso has made one standout play all season long. In fact, since returning from his knee injury, he’s hurt Philadelphia’s defense more than he has helped.
Then there is Philadelphia’s 2015 NFL Draft class, which was handpicked by Kelly and has struggled ever since. Outside of Jordan Hicks, no other player has stood out. Kelly also elected to hand out some huge contracts in free agency to DeMarco Murray and Byron Maxwell. Neither player has performed at the level in which they were paid to perform at. It’s officially safe to call Kelly’s first year as the team’s “general manager” a complete and utter failure.
In fact, this is likely what most Eagles’ fans want to do to Kelly right now after the team’s performance this season:
https://www.facebook.com/1016505108387789/videos/1016918141679819/
So where does the team go from here? Nobody knows. It’s easy to point the finger at Kelly and fire him as well as the rest of his coaching staff. But that seems a bit extreme considering how invested Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie is in Kelly. You don’t give a head coach full control and then fire him after one disappointing season. That’s like taking away someone’s driver’s license after they got into their first car accident.
But then again, Kelly has failed to deliver a single playoff win to the City of Brotherly Love in his first three seasons as head coach. Sure, he didn’t have control during those first two seasons but maybe the team was better off that way. Kelly seems to get in his own way a bit too much and that makes for an awful mix both on the field and in the front office.
If Lurie truly wants Kelly to remain as the team’s head coach moving forward, he’ll have to strip him of his personnel duties. There needs to be a balance of power in the front office and someone that can truly identify talent. Kelly clearly has a problem doing so and Ed Marynowitz seems to basically act as his “yes man,” despite saying otherwise publicly. Along with Kelly being relieved of his duties as a pseudo-GM, the team should also fire defensive coordinator Bill Davis. Despite an impressive start to the season, Davis just hasn’t got the job done in his three year’s as Philadelphia’s defensive signal caller.
But what if Lurie has had enough of Kelly’s shenanigans and just wants to press the reset button once again? Here are my top five candidates to possibly replace Kelly as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2016:
1) Sean McDermott, Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator
McDermott spent nearly 10 years with the Philadelphia Eagles in a multitude of positions. But making his return to the team as the head coach would bring his career full circle. McDermott has done an outstanding job with the Panthers’ defense since taking the reigns in 2011. Considering the talent that the Eagles currently possess on the defensive side of the ball, it would certainly make sense to hire a defensive minded head coach and for them to build off of what they have there in place already.
2) Adam Gase, Chicago Bears offensive coordinator
Gase is by far the hottest head coaching candidate in the NFL. Despite dealing with injuries all over Chicago’s offense, Gase has turned the unit into a formidable one. What’s most impressive is the job he has done with starting quarterback Jay Cutler, who looks like a changed man under Gase’s watch. Let’s not forget that Gase is turning unheralded players such as rookie running back Jeremy Langford and career long back-up tight end Zach Miller into legitimate offensive threats.
3) Ben McAdoo, New York Giants offensive coordinator
This name may surprise some but McAdoo has done an outstanding job in New York during his first two years as the team’s offensive coordinator. During his first 10 seasons in the NFL, Eli Manning averaged 22.9 passing touchdowns and 17.1 interceptions per season. Manning is on pace to average 31.8 passing touchdowns and 11.8 interceptions in his first two seasons under McAdoo’s watch. While in New York, McAdoo hasn’t exactly had the most weapons to work with either but the offense continues to produce at a high level. That almost sounds like what someone else was supposed to do.
P.S. – He’s also a Pennsylvania native (this is going to be an unintentional recurring theme with some of these candidates, I swear).
4) Teryl Austin, Detroit Lions defensive coordinator
While Dan Quinn and Todd Bowles are proving that former defensive coordinators can still be successful head coaches in the NFL today, the Eagles should consider adding another name to that list. Austin was a hot coaching commodity last season and that’ll likely continue this offseason. Austin has done an outstanding job revamping Detroit’s embarrassing defense from years ago. Somehow, someway the Lions had the second best overall defense in the NFL in 2014, which just so happened to be Austin’s first year as their defensive coordinator. It also doesn’t hurt that Austin is a Pennsylvania native either…I told you.
5) Vic Fangio, Chicago Bears defensive coordinator
I know, I know, Fangio looks like he would host a radio show in Philadelphia. But he’s actually a damn good defensive coordinator that has turned Chicago’s defense around rather quickly. After being one of the worst units in the NFL just one season ago, the Bears are actually decent without making any drastic changes to their roster either. They went from allowing the second most points per game (27.6) and third most total yards per game (377.1) last season to allowing the 15th most points per game (24) and 18th most total yards per game (343.1). That’s quite a big leap to make in just one year and don’t forget this, Fangio is also a Pennsylvania native.
It would honestly shock me if Lurie gave up on Kelly after just giving him full control of the team. Former NFL coaching legend Bill Parcells once famously said “If I’m going to be asked to cook the meal, I’d like to be able to pick the groceries,” when referring to wanting full control of all final roster decisions.
That quote certainly makes sense and many, including myself, brought it up this offseason when Kelly was awarded full control of all personnel decisions. It made sense to let Kelly shop for the groceries and get all of the ingredients that he needed for his recipe. But maybe we just forgot one thing, what if Kelly is just a really, really bad cook?