5 reasons Chip Kelly is losing his job

5. An inability to find a franchise quarterback, relying on often injured players

A two-part issue here, which became intertwined during the 2015 season. Chip Kelly came into the league with the reputation as this offensive mastermind who would “revolutionize the NFL.”  During his first season people were going insane over the offense his team fielded, and noted analyst Ron Jaworksi went over the top after one week.

"As ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski explained on “The Tony Kornheiser Show” last week, the Eagles’ Week 1 demolition of the Redskins “changed the landscape of the NFL from a philosophical, schematic approach to how the game is played.”"

The problem is that while the offense looked good, Kelly never really changed anything. He simply ran a hurry up offense with a sprinkle of the zone read. Other teams have done such things with the Marv Levy and Jim Kelly-led Bills making the no-huddle famous in the 1990s. Then there has been the Colts and Broncos with Peyton Manning at quarterback and the Patriots with Tom Brady.

Those teams all used many of the same quick paced elements Kelly brought in. As for the zone read portion of his offense, this has been incorporated successfully in Seattle with Russell Wilson under center and in Carolina with Cam Newton.

Those offenses all worked, whereas Kelly’s has faded out. The reason is simple, they all feature franchise quarterbacks who run the system to perfection. Chip has a system where he is the focal point and he now tries to fit a square hole into a round peg with the world’s least athletic quarterback Sam Bradford at the helm.

Granted, he tried to trade for his former pupil Marcus Mariota, but there was no way Philly was moving from number 20 to the second-overall pick in this past draft, even though some believed he had somehow revolutionized the NFL draft value chart as well.

Still, Kelly has jettisoned every member of the explosive offense he featured during his rookie year and now there is no more pop on that team. To make matters worse, the players he has replaced the stars with looked more like a lost of players on injured reserve than a legitimate NFL roster.

DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews at running back have never been considered healthy players. Bradford had an extensive injury history in college, and that was before either of his two ACL tears. To top it off he also brought in the man with the perpetual hamstring injury at wide receiver in Miles Austin and Kiko Alonso on defense off an ACL tear as well.

The belief was Kelly was smarter than decades of NFL trainers and he would keep his players healthy with his amazing smoothies. Sounds crazy? Well some people believed it. Of course, that didn’t work, and injuries have been hurting Philly all season.

Next: #4: Mishandling of the Riley Cooper Saga