Philadelphia Eagles

Chip Kelly has been better than 15 coaches in the Hall of Fame

Published Dec. 30, 2015 2:25 p.m. ET

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Teddy Mitrosilis

The Philadelphia Eagles had their reasons to dismiss head coach Chip Kelly, which they did Tuesday after he did his part in creating what Philly's owner called the "most disappointing season" of his life.

Kelly failed tremendously in the GM role, with one move after another proving to be misguided. An offensive mastermind, he could not procure or develop a quality quarterback in his three years with the team. By many accounts, he mismanaged relationships with players.

But I'm still among those who think the Eagles are partly crazy for firing Kelly so fast based on this simple fact: Despite all of the aforementioned chaos, Kelly won football games at a rate better than most at the start of their careers. His 26-21 record in almost three full seasons is actually incredibly impressive if you consider the context.

Here's the context: Out of 21 head coaches currently in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Kelly won more games in the first three seasons of his career than 15 of them (not including player/coach Guy Chamberlin from the 1920s, who accounted for 29 wins in the first three years of his playing/coaching career).

This doesn't include current coaches Bill Belichick (20 wins) and Tom Coughlin (24), with the former a lock for the Hall of Fame and the latter somewhere in the discussion with two Super Bowls to his name.

Every NFL coach and executive likes to say pro football is a "results-based business" when it comes to hirings and firings. While you can argue against Kelly's tenure in Philly, this fact remains: Based on "results," Kelly was more successful in the first three years of his NFL career than approximately 70 percent of coaches in the Hall of Fame.

That's why the Eagles should have strongly considered the possiblity of restructuring their organization to keep Kelly as coach and to shift all personnel responsibilities to someone equipped to handle them. It's extremely hard to win games at the outset of a coaching career -- you take over bad situations, you are learning things for the first time, etc. -- and Kelly was really good at it.

No, of course this does not mean Kelly will go on to become a Hall of Fame NFL coach. It's simply one fact at one moment in time. And, yes, of course there are caveats and counter-arguments to make. For instance, I'll point out this one: Bill Walsh won only 21 games in his first three years in San Francisco, but Year 3 brought a championship. He obviously doesn't take a backseat to Kelly.

But those viewpoints make for fun debates, so have at it. Here are the 21 coaches currently in the Hall of Fame (not including player/coach Chamberlin). The ones in bold have more wins in the first three years of their career than Kelly's 26.

TOTAL WINS IN FIRST 3 YEARS - HALL OF FAME COACHES

Teddy Mitrosilis works in social content development at FOX Sports Digital. Follow him on Twitter @TMitrosilis and email him at tmitrosilis@gmail.com.

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