PHILADELPHIA -- Chip Kelly’s firing by the Philadelphia Eagles was sudden, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a long time in the making. Kelly’s tenure was tumultuous, marked by a fair amount of tension: Accusations of racism by departed players, the departure of productive and popular players, a front-office coup that resulted in the demotion of general manager Howie Roseman, and so on.
Here’s a look at five decisions that brought an end to the Kelly era in Philadelphia:
Hurry up and win: Kelly was impatient to win right away. He didn’t take the deliberate approach that many coaches take, sacrificing immediate success in order to build a winning roster. Most importantly, Kelly decided to stick with the quarterbacks he inherited from Andy Reid.
Mike Vick started at the beginning of the 2013 season. After he was injured, Nick Foles replaced him. When Foles got hot, Kelly named him the No. 1 quarterback. Foles responded with an excellent 10-game stretch: 27 touchdowns, just two interceptions and an 8-2 record.
Kelly brought Foles back as his starter for 2014, but Foles was not nearly as exceptional as he had been in 2013. After the team crumbled from 9-3 to 10-6 and missed the playoffs, Kelly knew he needed an elite quarterback if he was going to win in the NFL.
That precipitated the trade that sent Foles to St. Louis in exchange for Sam Bradford. Kelly took a chance that Bradford could be a first-rate quarterback after twice tearing the ACL in his left knee.
Bradford played respectably this season, but he was not quite the elite quarterback Kelly envisioned. In retrospect, Kelly would have been better off finding a young quarterback early in his tenure and developing him as the team was built around him.
Jackson cast aside: Wide receiver DeSean Jackson had the best year of his career in 2013. Nevertheless, Kelly deemed the speedy Jackson a poor culture fit and released him unceremoniously in March 2014. Jackson signed with Washington and has had a hand in beating the Eagles twice in the past two seasons.
More than that, Kelly discarded a game-changing player with speed and got nothing in return. Jeremy Maclin filled Jackson’s role capably last season, but he was allowed to leave in free agency last offseason.
That left the Eagles without an established, experienced wide receiver -- a weapon that Bradford sorely lacked in his first season with the Eagles.
On top of that, the departure of Jackson created the impression that Kelly didn’t value or respect players. His team culture was paramount. Thing is, Kelly hasn’t been as adept at adding talent as he has been at subtracting it.
Palace coup: Kelly met with Eagles owner Jeff Lurie, and the result was the demotion of general manager Howie Roseman and elevation of Kelly to full control of personnel.
Kelly won the internal battle, but he lost in the big picture. Roseman had his flaws as a talent evaluator, but he understood the league and how it conducted business. Roseman likely would have balked at the $40 million contract Kelly lavished on DeMarco Murray or the second-round draft choice that was thrown into the Foles-for-Bradford trade.
If Kelly had simply bitten his tongue and learned to work with Roseman, there is every chance that Lurie would have been more patient with his coach. By raising the pitch of things in the organization, Kelly expedited his own ouster.
Trade winds: Kelly decided that LeSean McCoy, who recently became the Eagles’ all-time leading rusher, was going to count too much against the 2015 salary cap. So Kelly called the Buffalo Bills and asked what they’d give him for McCoy and his $12.95 million cap number.
The Bills said the trade took just a half-hour to complete. They got McCoy. The Eagles got linebacker Kiko Alonso, who was coming back from a torn ACL.
McCoy had a good season in Buffalo, albeit not as good as he likely would have had if he’d stayed in Philadelphia. Alonso has been a major disappointment, as have the backs Kelly signed to replace McCoy in his offense.
The DeMarco dysfunction: Trading McCoy for Alonso was a questionable move. Believing that Murray was a better fit in the Eagles' offense was a case of football malpractice.
Kelly tried to sign former San Francisco back Frank Gore. When Gore opted for Indianapolis, Kelly hurriedly signed Murray, who led the NFL in rushing last season. Kelly explained that Murray was more of a north/south “one-cut runner” who would be more effective in his offense than the unpredictable McCoy.
Murray has not been anything that Kelly predicted. He gained a total of 11 yards on 21 carries in his first two games. The Eagles lost both games.
Meanwhile, a clear plan for using Murray and Ryan Mathews, another free-agent addition, never emerged.
By the Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit, Murray wasn’t starting anymore. A week later, after getting eight carries during a win at New England, Murray had a chat with Lurie on the flight home.
Kelly started out with the most productive running back in Eagles history and ended up with a disgruntled, ineffective back who complained to the owner. Bad decision.