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The name Chip Kelly was held in high esteem in the NFL in the 2010s, particularly in the early parts of the decade. He was arguably on the brink of revolutionizing offensive football in the league. However, driving the Philadelphia Eagles to a 10-6 record the first season he tasted NFL air was a long shot from how his run in the league turned out.
Playing defensive back for the University of New Hampshire in the early 1980s was the peak of Kelly's playing career. He never made it into the upper echelons of pro football, but his coaching career proved to be far more fruitful.
Grinding his way through the ranks of American football, Chip Kelly ventured through college football for 22 years before the dial of destiny had him pack his bags for the NFL. His college coaching journey ultimately saw him hone his trademark spread offense under Oregon coach Mike Bellotti from '07 to '08, after which he took over as head coach.
Kelly worked with numerous NFL talents in his time at Oregon, most notably 2015 second-overall draft pick Marcus Mariota and three-time Super Bowl winners LeGarrette Blount and Patrick Chung. It was with Mariota whom Kelly famously took college football by storm in 2012.
Averaging about 50 points per game that season, Chip Kelly kicked the door down on some of the biggest names in the country. Going 12-1, Kelly disrupted the landscape with his ingenuity on offense, as the Ducks mounted a 35-17 Fiesta Bowl victory over Kansas State.
The NFL comes calling
After being the mastermind of the No. 2-ranked team in the nation in 2012, Chip Kelly subsequently signed his first NFL contract. While most head coaches have to work their way up the league, Kelly was handed the Eagles' top job on a silver platter.
Taking over from the great Andy Reid, it was the rookie coach who set fire to the top tier of pro football. Kelly's trademark schemes that he tempered on the college scene weren't something the league saw coming.
With an offense starring Nick Foles, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson, the coach threw his own NFL welcome party en route to a 10-6 record. The Eagles boasted the No. 4 offense in pro football as they claimed the summit in the NFC East.
Their narrow 26-24 wild-card loss to the New Orleans Saints didn't shake them as they ran it right back the following season; this time sporting the No. 3 scoring offense. Again exceeding expectations, Kelly and Co. went 10-6. All the while, backup Mark Sanchez had to play half the season due to Nick Foles' injury.
However, the 2014 season's tale of adversity proved to be the last of Chip Kelly's heroics.
The NFL sands run out for Chip Kelly
Despite the stunning feats of 2014, the Eagles missed the playoffs as Kelly's luck started to run out.
The 2015 season was marred with misfortune. The blockbuster trade for quarterback Sam Bradford from the Rams in exchange for Nick Foles didn't pan out as expected. Bradford tossed 14 interceptions as Philadelphia went 7-9.
Running back DeMarco Murray hardly crossed 700 yards on the ground. Moreover, not a single receiver could top 1,000 yards through the air in Chip Kelly's pass-powered offense.
Kelly's offense ranked 13th in scoring, and the coach was sent packing by Week 16. However, he ended up being thrown a lifeline by a team taking desperate measures.
A glorious fall in Red and Gold
Worse than the Eagles' 7-9 2015 campaign was the San Francisco 49ers' 5-11 outing. The Niners were dead last in scoring that year, and their offense was going nowhere slowly, having finished 2014 with the 25th-scoring offense.
The front office was desperate, so they showed coach Jim Tomsula the door after a mere one season. Additionally, to salvage what was left of the Niners, offensive genius Chip Kelly was reeled in.
The former Eagles coach had offensive coordinator Curtis Modkins to help him rebuild what was a broken offense and a losing team in general. Moreover, they had duel-threat quarterback Colin Kaepernick to work with. It was all the necessary ingredients for a playoff-challenging team.
However, Kelly's unsuccessful shot at redemption in 2016 proved to be his last in the NFL. The 49ers went 2-14 en route to the bottom of the NFC West and the coach was shown the door at season's end.
His rookie hotshot rise and spectacular fall in the NFL is but a small insight into the inner workings of the top flight of pro football. While he ultimately returned to college football to coach UCLA, the high ranks of the NFL have since never played stage to the schemes of Chip Kelly.
