Eagles release head coach Chip Kelly

The Eagles’ next coach, meanwhile, must be merely that: a coach.

If Kelly is able to simply focus on coaching, one would have to wonder how he could use the skills of Kaepernick, running back Carlos Hyde, and receivers Torrey Smith and Bruce Ellington to create mismatches of speed and power at every position on offense.

With Kelly gone, the real questions are just beginning for the Eagles.

Colin Kaepernick could be the ideal quarterback to work under Kelly’s system. Of course. Do I think that there were some vital decisions that turned to have backfired?

Going forward, one of the major decisions the Eagles will have to face this offseason is the selection of a quarterback, whether that be the incumbent Sam Bradford, a rookie draft pick, or “other”.

He failed in Philadelphia because of an inability to assemble a functional National Football League roster. He is a pending free agent.

Still, when you consider how much of this organization Lurie invested in Kelly and how big Kelly’s handprints are all over everything that goes on at NovaCare Center, you understand how huge this is.

In San Francisco, Kelly wouldn’t have an opportunity to step into the personnel role. And what resulted was largely a tangled mess.

Philadelphia lost 26-24 to the New Orleans Saints on a last-second field goal in the first round of the playoffs in what would prove to be Kelly’s only postseason appearance. They said they expressed relief in text exchanges with teammates after the team announced it had fired Kelly, after most players had left the team’s practice facility for the day. Chief among the frustrations?

Shortly after Kelly was sacked, former Eagles linebacker Emmanuel Acho tweeted: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Lurie clearly won’t be giving his new coach total control any time soon. He had the confidence of Jimmy Johnson. This wasn’t a Steve Spurrier re-run.

When he gained control a year ago, Kelly promoted Ed Marynowitz to oversee the personnel department while he coached.

But in a move that appears very telling in retrospect, Roseman wasn’t fired.

Last year, Garrett signed a five-year contract with the Cowboys that was worth a whopping $30 million. It’s looking like Lurie is positioning himself for a front office mea culpa.

Lurie told fans President Don Smolenski and Howie Roseman, the executive vice president of football operations, will assist him in the search for a new coach. “He’s one of the best personnel people I know”. Now there is speculation that the Detroit Lions could be on Kelly’s short list if there is an opening. Kelly obviously has the proper scheme to fit Mariota’s abilities and not to mention he used to coach him at Oregon. Maybe he returns to the college game.

Given Kelly’s influence over the makeup of the organization, Lurie & Co. will have to be spot-on in their next move or it will not be hard to imagine the Eagles going through a similar nightmarish transition.

This move was so far out of character for Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie.