Seth Vigdor
Whew! Breathe everyone. It’s been an insane 12+ hours with the firing of Chip Kelly last night. Much has always been made of Kelly’s tenure in Philly of his culture that he wants to have. Certain players like DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy never fit into Kelly’s culture that he was trying to create, though apparently Riley Cooper was.
It’s Kelly’s culture that led me to call for his firing a few weeks back. It was just clear to me at that point that there was no reason to prolong the inevitable. Chip Kelly had lost his team and he wasn’t getting them back.
Per a new report from NFL Insider, Jason La Canfora, it was Kelly’s “warped culture” that he created that led to his firing more than anything else.
Here’s what La Canfora had to say:
So what else went wrong? Well, Kelly was losing people throughout the building, sources said, even outside of football operations. His autocratic tendencies got the best of him. His allies were few and far between. The idea that DeMarco Murray somehow led this charge is preposterous, I’m told, but in fact Lurie had begun having serious reservations a few weeks ago, when he began reaching out to confidants about how to proceed and began doing research on the pool of potential candidates elsewhere. He started to doubt whether Kelly The Innovative Coach was quite smart enough to overcome Kelly The Personnel Demagogue. Everything having to be Kelly’s way — moving events around to fit his schedule, things having to accommodate him — grew troublesome.
Lurie didn’t go into his meeting with Kelly with the intention of firing him, I’m told. More, it was to take his temperature and continue to feel him out and gather information that would lead to his ultimate decision on what to do with his organization in 2016. Obviously, things went sideways and what Kelly had to say didn’t mesh with the owner’s vision, and Lurie became convinced that for as radical as a Week 17 firing might be perceived, it was time to do it. The fact that Kelly didn’t seem inclined to scratch and claw to remain in his perch, sources said, did him no favors as well. Thus, the divorce”
Somehow I knew that in the end his culture would do him in. Kelly already has job offers. Regardless of where Kelly lands with his new gig, he’ll need to take a deep look into the mirror and evaluate himself before he forces his culture on anyone else. Or else, his next job will end just like it did Philadelphia.
Get your “In Chip We Trust Nevermind” T-shirt now! Use code “LATER2015” to get 10% off! Buy yours here.
