Even before the season began, Chip Kelly’s future was more cloudy than bright.
The former Oregon and Philadelphia Eagles head coach was taking over a 49ers team that had spiraled into the NFC West cellar after the ejection of Jim Harbaugh.
Retirements, injury, bad decisions and age had wreaked havoc on a once-formidable roster, and Kelly himself was leaving a situation in Philadelphia where his aptitude as an NFL coach had come into question.
In August, one bookmaker put all those things together and listed Kelly as the sixth most-likely NFL head coach to be fired this season. David Fucillo of SB Nation wrote at the time that he doubted Kelly would be ejected during or after his first season in the Bay Area, noting it would “take a pretty brutal season” for that happen.
Well, 10 games into 2016, and this season has indeed been brutal.
Kelly’s team has lost nine straight and, at 1-9, remains in the hunt to finish with the league’s worst record. The Niners have been inefficient and unexciting on offense and horrible on defense.
With six games to go, Kelly’s future – and that of general manager Trent Baalke – is being questioned by the media and fans.
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This past weekend, longtime Bay Area News Group columnist Tim Kawakami wrote, “Should Kelly be fired at the end of the season, should general manager Trent Baalke be fired, or should they both be fired?”
Kawakami cited previous firings and moves by team CEO Jed York, opining that certainly, someone’s head will roll.
Wrote Kawakami: “You know that the games are the least interesting part of this now; the real competition and positioning is happening behind the scenes, and there will be firings at the end of it. There have to be firings.”
An online poll ran with Kawakami’s column, asking readers to pick who most deserves to be let go, Baalke, Kelly, both or neither. Baalke received 54.6 percent of the votes (by Tuesday morning), with “both” second at 42.9 percent.
On Monday, Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle asked Kelly if he’d received any assurance from York that his job was safe for 2017.
“No,” Kelly told Branch. “We haven’t had any conversations about that at all. About anybody’s job security.”
As Branch noted, Kelly’s current hot-seat status comes just 11 months after the 49ers hired him and York said at a news conference that, “Chip’s going to be here for a long time. Period.”
If the 49ers lose out to finish this season 1-15, “long time” might just be one year. Or, Kelly could survive and wind up working with a new GM if Baalke takes the blame.
As Kawakami suggested, someone will pay the price.
