Chip Kelly’s tenure in San Francisco is about to be as short as possible.
Both ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport say the 49ers are expected to fire Kelly and GM Trent Baalke after the season.
The 49ers are 2-13 entering Week 17, which sets them up for their worst season since 2004, when they went 2-14. This is Kelly’s first season on the job, and the team has gotten even worse from their 4-12 season under Jim Tomsula, who also only lasted one season as the team’s head coach.
Recent reports suggested that Baalke would lose his job after the 49ers completely imploded following Jim Harbaugh’s firing after the 2014 season. However, Kelly’s fate was less certain.
Now it sounds as if both men will lose their jobs.
One has to wonder whether this will be Kelly’s last NFL head coaching job. He started off successfully in Philly going 10-6 in consecutive seasons with the Eagles. After winning a power struggle with the team’s GM, he took over Philly’s personnel and ran the organization backwards, resulting in his firing amid a 6-9 season.
Ultimately, Kelly’s foolish decision to take the 49ers job where he had Blaine Gabbert and Colin Kaepernick as quarterbacks doomed him. He should have been more picky about the job he took.
