Chip Kelly has been here before.
At 1-4, the 49ers under Kelly are drowning in disappointment. Their defense is bad and the offense isn’t effective or exciting.
The situation in San Francisco is similar to Kelly’s first year as head coach of the Eagles, when Philadelphia started 1-3 in 2013. That year Philly roared back to finish 10-6 and sneak into the playoffs.
So, after the 49ers absorbed their fourth straight loss this past Thursday night to the Cardinals, Kelly is keeping an optimistic outlook, saying that things can quickly change. He went into this week saying he and his staff would re-evaluate starters on both sides of the ball – including at quarterback – and that he would get some problems fixed.
It may be folly to keep up the optimism in the face of four straight convincing losses, but that’s the face Kelly is showing in public. And, when asked about that first-season turnaround in Philly this week, he responded in a way that gave the impression it gives him hope.
“I like where you’re going because the outcome worked out pretty good,” Kelly said, according to Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com. “So, the optimist part of us … We’ll see if we can bridge that gap, but every game takes on its own individual personality. And I know we always try to say, ‘This is like this,’ so maybe this time hopefully it is, because we finished 10-6.”
Yet as Wagoner pointed out, NFL teams that begin the season 1-4 have a very slim chance of turning things around. The analytic website FiveThirtyEight.com has reported that teams that lose four of their first five games have about a 5 percent chance of reaching the postseason.
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And, that Eagles team of Kelly’s in 2013 was a far more talented group than this 49ers team.
Yet, Kelly is staying calm and trying to analyze what’s going wrong and what can be done to make the team better. He says that’s going to continue, no matter what the team’s record is.
As the 49ers prepare to face the Bills in Buffalo this Sunday, Kelly and his staff have said they’re ready to make changes this week.
“You need to take a step back,” Kelly said. “Let’s be very analytical in our approach, let’s make sure we’re looking at trying to find the proper solutions as we move forward here and try to get this thing straightened out.”
One change that could happen is inserting Colin Kaepernick at quarterback over Blaine Gabbert. Kelly and his staff reportedly are seriously discussing that option.
