http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/01/14/chip-kelly-san-francisco-49ers-nfl-divisional-preview
Chip Kelly, Take Two
San Francisco’s bold move to hire Chip Kelly leads to questions about how much the ex-Eagles coach learned in his first NFL job. Plus a look at divisional games, including one with two teams that are mirror images
by Jenny Vrentas
Jim Harbaugh’s exit following the 2014 season opened the door—in a roundabout way—to the Niners hiring Chip Kelly this week.
Michael Zagaris/Getty Images
Earlier this month, two NFL franchises did the unexpected: They kept their head coaches. With the entire league watching, and expecting a move, the Colts made it work with Chuck Pagano, and the Saints found a way to keep Asshole Face.
So, why couldn’t the 49ers do that last year with Jim Harbaugh? That’s a complicated question, to which there isn’t a single answer, but it brought us to where we were Thursday afternoon—when the 49ers hired Chip Kelly.
They wanted a bold move, after a safe move (Jim Tomsula) that followed their last bold move (Harbaugh), and this is it. In the quest for a difference-making head coach, San Francisco took a gamble on Kelly. You could also ask the question, why will it be different this time—for Kelly, after his failed Eagles tenure, and for the 49ers, partnering with another offensive whiz who does not endear with his personality?
Practically speaking, whether this works out depends on two things:
1) Can Kelly rehabilitate Colin Kaepernick?
2) Will he learn from the mistakes he made as a first-time NFL head coach, without time in between to reflect?
There are reasons to be optimistic about the first point. Many coaches around the league harbor some annoyance about Kelly’s reputation as an innovator for things they believe other coaches are also doing, but most will acknowledge his aptitude to bring out the best in Kaepernick with his quarterback-friendly system.
The sixth-year quarterback has many physical hurdles to overcome this offseason—he’s had surgeries on his (non-throwing) shoulder, thumb and knee since his season ended in November—but he has the most physical talent and versatility of any quarterback Kelly has coached in the NFL (if you’re keeping score—Michael Vick, Nick Foles, Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford).
Hearing a plan to salvage Kaepernick, who is signed by San Francisco through 2020 (albeit on a flexible contract that gives the team off-ramps each year), was no doubt top of conversation during the 49ers’ interviews with coaching candidates.
The second point may be more uncertain, and more important. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie’s decree of needing a coach with “emotional intelligence” after firing Kelly will shadow him to his next job and could be a hurdle to winning over the San Francisco locker room. After three seasons in Philadelphia, Kelly still needs to prove he can adapt his collegiate approach to the pros, whether it be in how he deals with grown men vs. college kids, or the fact that his breakneck speed, perpetual motion practices may not work as well in the NFL, where seasons are longer, rosters are smaller and players are older.
His sports science methods kept his teams very healthy, but players, including tackle Lane Johnson, have spoken of the workload taking a toll by season’s end. And while Kelly will reunite with his trusted personnel exec Tom Gamble, he will have to work in harmony with 49ers GM Trent Baalke, which did not happen between Baalke and Harbaugh. The positive for Kelly is that Baalke having the personnel power could insulate Kelly from the same fate he suffered in Philly, where he took over roster control and was held accountable for it by Lurie when things went awry this season.
But when it comes to learning from mistakes, there’s something to be said for reflecting on what went wrong and how you can avoid those mistakes in the future. By getting another gig right away, Kelly may not have that chance. The two best, most recent examples of coaches who found success in their second go-around as NFL head coaches are Tom Coughlin and Bill Belichick, who were fired from their first NFL head gigs and won multiple Super Bowls in their second.
And neither went straight from his first head-coaching job to his second. Coughlin was out of football for a year after being fired by the Jaguars, before the Giants hired him. Belichick was an assistant head coach and secondary coach for three seasons after being fired by the Browns.
Of course, there are examples both ways. Jon Gruden led the Bucs to a Super Bowl championship the season after Oakland let him go, though he was traded and not fired. And Andy Reid went straight from Philadelphia to Kansas City, and has taken the Chiefs to the playoffs in two of his first three years. But often times, when you are being immediately courted by another team after being fired, there isn’t the time or the necessity to learn from past mistakes.
“Sometimes when you are involved in a whirlwind business like the NFL is, there is no offseason, there is just a non-game playing season,” former Falcons coach Mike Smith said in December, after taking a year off from coaching and writing a book on leadership. “You get so caught up and so busy that you don’t necessarily do the evaluation at the depth that you need to do it to become a better coach, a better person. I think it is therapeutic to have an opportunity to sit back and do that evaluation.”
That’s not to say that Kelly hasn’t, or won’t. But nothing
forces you to learn those lessons like you do when you’re humbled.
