Is Chip Kelly Still Chip Kelly?
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It's hard to say where exactly it began—this doubt about Chip Kelly—but it's easy to notice how amplified the doubters have become since the Eagles have lost three-straight games and will be watching January football.
A few things are certain: Kelly is still a very good coach who managed to squeeze nine wins out of a very overrated team; he had them in a position to make the playoffs deep into December, despite a league-high 35 turnovers, and NFL highs in interceptions (20) and lost fumbles (15) with a team full of inherited spare parts that aren't his.
Kelly managed to bypass the injuries that decimated the offensive line to win nine of the first 12 games this season—and a sieve of a secondary that's given up the sixth-highest passing total of yards this year (3,809) and third-highest amount of touchdown passes (29).
The fact is, the Eagles were not a very good football team in 2014—and just reaching this point again shows what Kelly could do with a little—including a first-round draft pick that couldn't sniff the field.
No, what Kelly may need to do, what he most probably will do after the Eagles close out 2014, is self-evaluate himself, as he does his players after each season.
What he may find will bother him.
The Chip Kelly the Eagles hired has morphed into an "NFL coach," one with a tendency to think more conservatively and less outside-the-box than the Chip Kelly who coached at Oregon and the Chip Kelly circa 2013.
Sure, some NFL coaches have copied Kelly's up-tempo offensive style. But it looks as if the swaggering risk taker Kelly was supposed to be as temporarily left the NovaCare Complex.
He's morphed into "Conformist Chip."
With a fourth-and-one at the Arizona 2 in the game against the Cardinals on Oct. 26, does the Chip Kelly the Eagles hired go for it—or opt for a field goal, as Conformist Chip did?
Against San Francisco a month prior, does Chip Kelly pull something odd out of his playbook sitting at the Niners' 1-yard line with 1:55 left? No, Conformist Chip supersedes and the Eagles settle for a Nick Foles roll out and pass to … no one.
Kelly is 6-9 over the last two years against teams with a record of .500 or better.
The Chip Kelly the Eagles hired would take more chances—go for it more often on fourth down, take a risk. Kelly had a handful of opportunities to do that against the lowly Redskins last Saturday. With :16 left in the half and the Eagles at the Washington 46, Kelly decided to punt.
That's not the vintage Chip Kelly the Eagles hired.
One of the two Cody Parkey third-quarter misses could have been another chance to show some guts and try it on fourth down, sitting at the Redskins' 16 and 28.
Chip Kelly may not admit it openly, but the coach he was when he got hired is different than the "NFL" coach he's become. Kelly has a lot of thinking to do in the off-season, and to his credit, much of it will probably be aimed at himself.
Joseph Santoliquito is a contributing sports blogger for CBS Philly.
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