On the evening of Tuesday, Dec. 29, Jeffrey Lurie, owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, released a statement announcing the release of Head Coach Chip Kelly. Kelly had been with the Eagles for nearly three seasons.
Prior to Kelly’s release, there had been rampant speculation concerning the security of his job. Various organizations were rumored to be top suitors, including the USC Trojans and the Tennessee Titans. While USC had since hired a new head coach, the Titans job was still presumably open, as Mike Mularkey was still serving as the interim actor in that position.
Despite leading the Eagles to a 6-9 record prior to Week 17 of the 2015 season—a decidedly mediocre record considering the expectations fans had of the team entering the season—many were adamant that Kelly’s job was secure. Lurie’s prior moves seemed to indicate this. At the beginning of the year Lurie gave Kelly full control as the head of football operations, making him the de facto GM of the team. Kelly went on to conduct various moves that many did not agree with, such as the trading of star running back Lesean McCoy to the Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso. Given that Kelly had made such large changes, it was expected to take some time for those changes to pan out; and with Lurie generally being regarded as a patient owner, it was the general consensus that Kelly would be given one more season to right the ship. Lurie, however, did not afford him that luxury.
Given that the seemingly premature firing, which occurred with only one game left to play in the season, is very out of character for the patient Lurie, it may be speculated that there was more going on within the organization that the media and fans are not yet privy to. The most sensible explanation is that Kelly had completely lost the confidence of the locker room. There had been rumbles of trouble in the weeks leading up to Kelly’s release, such as the discontent of running back Demarco Murray concerning his number of carries and general lack of use in Kelly’s offensive scheme. In the most recent game against the Redskins in which the division was lost, Jason Peters, who plays left tackle for the Eagles, was said to have pulled himself from the game because he didn’t want to risk injury if the team was going to lose regardless. It was also reported by Ian Rapoport after the firing that Murray had discussed with Lurie his lack of confidence in Kelly as a head coach a few weeks prior. Finally, Samuel Acho, a former Eagles linebacker, tweeted out “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” soon after the firing–a cryptic message which some have interpreted as pertaining to Kelly. The evidence seems to suggest that Kelly had worn out his welcome in Philly, particularly among the players.
Despite the reason, the facts remain the same. The Eagles have fired Chip Kelly. In the coming years, there will likely be a large rebuilding effort with respect to team personnel as well as players, as those Kelly brought in to suit his scheme will either see their roles potentially change under the scheme of a new head coach or be jettisoned. Popular candidates for the position include the offensive coordinators of the Chicago Bears and Cincinnati Bengals, Adam Gase and Hue Jackson, respectively; the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers, Sean McDermott; and New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton.
Fans who had hoped stability might finally be in the franchise’s future after a wild offseason have been disappointed. One thing, however, is certain—great change is coming for the Eagles, and only time will tell what the future holds for Philly.
Vincent Behe is a Saucon Valley resident and Eagles fan. He is an undergraduate student at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, where he is majoring in history.
