Open Rants by Semaj

Jan 15 2016

In case you have been living under a rock, the 49ers recently made former Eagles Head Coach Chip Kelly their new head coach.  I have heard a lot of different views on the hire.  Some say it is a complete disaster and the 49ers will continue their downward spiral from last year.  Others are optimistic, pointing to Kelly's initial success in the NFL and a rather bare head coaching pool as prime reasons why this was a good hire.  Either way, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of gray on the trip from green to gold.  I believe there are two crucial factors both Kelly and the 49ers brass (Trent Baalke and Jed York) need to overcome in order for this match to work, and they can each find them by simply looking in the mirror.

The first is Chip Kelly himself.  I'm not going to be one of the many who say he cant coach.  In his four years at Oregon he went 46-7 and turned them into a national powerhouse and championship contender.  In his first two years with the Eagles he went 10-6, featuring offenses that finished 2nd and 5th in yards, and 4th and 3rd in points in each respective year despite having Nick Foles as his starting quarterback.  He is a smart man who is absolutely obsessed with football and succeeding at the pro level. 

The biggest hurdle he faces against himself is his arrogance.  For one you need good, talented personnel to succeed in the NFL.  I'm not going to knock him for getting rid of DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy.  Jackson is a one trick pony who is often injured while McCoy shared the same injury problems and plays a position that is a dime a dozen.  What really hurt him was not retaining Jeremy Maclin and, inexplicably, cutting Evan Mathis.  You absolutely need talent to succeed in the NFL.  You cant just plug in and play any players into a system.  This kind of fixed itself in that he claims he does not want any personnel control.  Well, we will see how that works, but at least he is showing that he is aware personnel control is not his strong suit.

Speaking of system, his is philosophically flawed.  The whole idea behind his offensive scheme is to exploit a particular defensive look by running the hurry up and not letting the defense substitute.  While it sounds good in theory, in today's NFL it isnt necessary.  You don't need to go out of your way to create advantages for your offense; they are already in the rules.  From not being able to contact a wide receiver after five yards, to very conservative approaches when it comes to hitting quarterbacks, the NFL has built in advantages for offense.  They want teams to score and they want them to score a lot.  All Kelly's scheme is doing is giving the opposing offense more possessions and therefore putting more tax on your defense.  The Eagles defense played the equivalent of approximately three extra games this year.  That is absolutely ridiculous!  Kelly has shown us he is capable of admitting he made a mistake by essentially benching DeMarco Murray and coming out and saying he doesn't want personnel control in San Francisco, so maybe he has it in him to realize his offensive philosophy is not necessary and just doesn't make sense in today's NFL.

The second factor is Jed York and Trent Baalke.  While I'm somewhat optimistic Chip Kelly can correct himself and succeed in this league, I'm less enthused about these two.  Jed York, quite simply, has no idea what he is doing running a football organization.  The way he handled the Jim Harbaugh situation was absolutely disgraceful and unprofessional.  How you let an egotistical general manager talk you out of a top three head coach, and replace him with a Ron Jeremy look alike is beyond me.  The man took the 49ers to three straight NFC championships, and was a Michael Crabtree finger's length away from completing the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history.  To top it off, he did all of this with Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick as his quarterback!  Even in his last year, admist all the rumors that that was his last year, he had them at 7-4 and primed for a playoff push.  York made a terrible mistake by getting rid of Harbaugh, however, I think he has taken a step in the right direction with this hire. 

Getting Chip Kelly is as close to him saying "I was wrong" as you can get.  Both Kelly and Harbaugh were successful college coaches who had success in the early years of their NFL careers.  I know I am hard on Baalke, but he did help build the roster that Harbaugh coached into becoming a powerhouse, so while he may be egotistical, he knows what he's doing as far as building a team goes,  Now, this past draft didn't show a lot of promise, and the free agency period was terrible, but I'm willing to give him a pass based on his history.  

I'm not saying everything is all rainbows and unicorns.  This hire could easily turn into a disaster.  Chip Kelly could easily continue to be arrogant, and refuse to learn NFL concepts, while Baalke continues to botch the draft and free agency.  If both parties don't change, both Baalke and Kelly will be resubmitting resumes in the very near future.  All I'm saying is there is reason for optimism.  York and Baalke have said "we were wrong" by hiring a man similar (not as great by any means, but similar) to Harbaugh, while Kelly has proven to be a smart football mind who wants nothing more than to succeed at the pro level.  Perhaps he can learn from his mistakes in Philly and grow from them.  If both sides can look in the mirror and realize they need to change, this could be a match made in chaotic matrimony.