According to Chip Kelly, it was circumstances out of his control that doomed him to fail in Philidelphia. If there is anything he had in Philidelphia, you would think it would be control. The fantastic details thanks to CBS Sports:
So, to hear Kelly tell it, while “I didn’t like the way it was,” and “I didn’t like the direction” of the front office, and “I didn’t think we were on the same page,” he did not ask for more power. Lurie, in Kelly’s telling of the decline of the Philadelphia Eagles, simply opted to bestow it upon him. “It’s just the way it was set up,” as Kelly put it, sounding like a helpless cog in the Eagles machine. So, who set it up that way? “The organization.” Alrighty then.
That’s usually how it works, right? I wouldn’t think so. Eagles top football executive Howie Roseman and Kelly clearly did not get along. They didn’t seem to be on great terms during his last season. More from CBS:
“It was just a weird situation,” Kelly admitted, remaining detached and explaining events as if they were perpetrated upon him and not that he played any defining role in. As for Roseman, “I didn’t really see him,” because Kelly was preparing for games and Howie wasn’t really welcomed at practice, so, yeah. Kelly simply decided which players he wanted in the offseason and would have Marynowitz relay the message, and then he claims he was out of the loop. So don’t waste your time asking Kelly about all the silly guaranteed money doled out to Maxwell and Murray. To hear him tell it, he barely had any idea what was going on.
As the story goes on, Kelly continues to dig himself deeper and deeper…
“I’ve never negotiated a contract in my life. That’s not my skill set. I didn’t study the salary cap.” Kelly says he “wasn’t in charge” of determining the length, guaranteed money and structure of any contracts and would have you believe he didn’t even know how any of that got sorted out and why Lurie’s money went where it did.
When you are in a position of power it comes with a lot of responsibility. When you were in the rare position of power Kelly was in, the buck stops with you. If you aren’t in control of something on the base level, you have to make sure the people who are in charge of it are doing their jobs.
To not own up and take responsibility doesn’t show great character for the new San Fran head coach.