National Football League

Fired Head Coach Chip Kelly Leaves Behind a Strange Legacy with the 49ers

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:37 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Peter Panacy/FanSided via Niner Noise

The San Francisco 49ers officially fired head coach Chip Kelly after just one season in Santa Clara, as well as general manager Trent Baalke, after Week 17 of the 2016 season. Kelly leaves behind a strange legacy with the franchise — one more indicative of the Niners than of the former head coach.

Now-fired head coach Chip Kelly was walking into a proverbial dumpster fire when the San Francisco 49ers hired him in January of 2016.

And he escapes the same dumpster fire exactly a year later after being the second third head coach fired by CEO Jed York in as many years.

The latest turn of San Francisco’s coaching carousel feels a bit different this year. Perhaps York is “seeing the light,” electing to part ways with general manager Trent Baalke as well. And yet it’s going to be a tough, tough legacy to figure out.

With regards to Kelly, that is.

Kelly’s ending with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015 didn’t go so well. And it’s indicative the 49ers were the only team to offer him an interview this year.

And yet the Niners offered him a four-year contract. York even went so far as to claim Kelly would be here for a “long time.”

Remember this?

Granted, Kelly’s record in his first and only year with the franchise speaks for itself. The NFL is a results-based league.

Those results weren’t good. At all. But to understand the convoluted legacy, we have to look at the context.

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Garbage In, Garbage Out

Blame Baalke all you want. This was his roster, and repeated NFL Draft and free-agency failures contributed to the shape this team was in.

And San Francisco was merely one year removed from arguably the most disastrous offseason in franchise history.

Kelly entered in knowing all this. And yet it was his job to turn things around.

In some ways, he did. Not long ago, Niner Noise put together a piece chronicling critical areas in which San Francisco actually improved — dramatically, in some areas — over the course of the year.

Key stats, like red-zone scoring percentage and rushing yards, saw vast leaps. And those have to be directly attributed to Kelly.

One could argue quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s play improved — a far cry over the disastrous efforts seen under last year’s offensive regime under then-offensive coordinator Geep Chryst.

But 2-14. You can’t get past that. The 49ers regressed in other areas. Kelly’s uptempo offense put the defense at risk. And the Niners, despite questions about coordinator Jim O’Neil’s scheme, wound up being historically bad on that side of the ball.

While not his forte, these stats fall on Kelly’s watch too.

An Indictment Against the 49ers Front Office?

Letting Kelly go might be the best thing for the franchise. And while the “what if” questions will remain — as we can only wonder what the case might have been had Kelly stayed put for a few seasons — San Francisco needed a shakeup from top to bottom.

Yet the fact the Niners are in this position now speaks less to Kelly’s ability or inability and more to the problems atop the organization.

January 20, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers chief executive officer Jed York (left), Chip Kelly (center), and San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke (right) pose for a photo in a press conference after naming Kelly as the new head coach for the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium Auditorium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

San Francisco has a revolving door at head coach. It’s a situation York knew he would be in if he pursued this route. And it’s likely going to be a turn-off for many of the top-tier head-coaching candidates the Niners will try to lure in.

York is directly responsible for letting this situation get to this point though. His actions in recent years have shown little-to-no clue on what it takes to run a successful NFL franchise.

To put things bluntly, Kelly shouldn’t have been in this situation to begin with. And yet he entered it, knowing full well he was on a short leash, “long time” comments from York and all.

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So Kelly bears that blame too. He has to bear the blame for on-field results, even though many of those can be attributed to a putrid roster.

Still, the vast majority of Niners fans will probably feel Kelly’s firing is justified more by the team’s need to move in a new, paradigm-shift direction. And not one for which the one-and-done head coach was primarily responsible.

That is, of course, a direct reflection on York at the leadership at the top.

Kelly moves on now to an uncertain future. And San Francisco is left to pick up the pieces — pieces that were never assembled in the first place, showing just how bad things have gotten for a once-proud franchise.

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