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Well, who says the fireworks can’t happen right before the end of the season? In a stunning decision, Chip Kelly has been fired and is no longer the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Owner Jeff Lurie is really cleaning house too, as he also fired Ed Marynowitz (the guy Kelly brought in to sort of replace Howie Roseman).
I honestly thought that Lurie would give Kelly at least another year to tinker with the machine he built here. I mean, why give your coach all that power and allow him the ability to overhaul the roster like he did and not give him every opportunity to make it work?
I guess when you look at DeMarco Murray’s “dissension” from the ranks, and the rumors that Jason Peters wasn’t entirely on board with Kelly’s approach, you can see that maybe the cracks were running deeper than people thought. Maybe there were more cracks than anyone outside the organization knew. Perhaps this is just the tip of the iceberg and we’re about to find out some really crazy situation behind the scenes.
I’m starting to think that Lurie knew Kelly would either be a colossal boom or a colossal bust. And with the way this season went, I can only assume Lurie saw the trend heading downwards and decided to stop the bleeding now before things really hit the wall. Kelly’s unorthodox approach to the game really must not have resonated with the players like it was thought they would.
I now have to wonder what this does for the future of guys Kelly assembled here. I suppose Murray won’t be as ready to leave as he was a few weeks ago. Perhaps this might drive pending free agents like Sam Bradford out the door. Or maybe now that Kelly is gone, it’ll be more reason for him to stay.
But for now, so long Kelly, so long S8 (whatever that meant), and thanks for the smoothies.
Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL. Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL.
