So now that Chip Kelly has been fired and the Eagles have finished their season, the discussion about where he will end up coaching is at large. Kelly is a gem in the NFL world who has just signed to be head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. This makes you wonder, why would the Eagles fire Chip Kelly?

Kelly had an above average 26-22 record as the Eagles head coach, twice leading them to double digit win seasons and even giving Philadelphia its first home playoff game since 2010 in his first season.

Kelly began his tenure as the Eagles coach with a 10-6 season, cruising to a division title in the NFL’s most competitive division, the NFC East. His second season, which was plagued by injuries, also saw the Eagles finish a strong 10-6 but unfortunately miss the playoffs after losing the division to the surging Dallas Cowboys.

Then everything seemed to fall apart.

Kelly sent Pro-Bowl running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for Bills linebacker, and Oregon product, Kiko Alonso. Alonso suffered a partial tear of his already repaired left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in week 2 of the NFL season.

Kelly signed 2014 rushing champion DeMarco Murray who finished the year averaging 3.6 yards per carry, the worst of his career.

Most shocking to me was the decision to trade Nick Foles to St. Louis for Sam Bradford. Foles had incredible numbers in his two years with Chip Kelly posting a 40-12 touchdown to interception ratio and going 14-6 as a starter.

But even with all of these decisions, people believed that Kelly would lead the Eagles back to the playoffs. The mastermind that is Chip Kelly made people believe in all of his unethical yet successful ideas. By no means is 7-9 in his first season with a whole new roster worth firing him for.

The spread offense that has been so successful in college is the first ever scheme from college to come into the NFL and was worthy of a championship. The Eagles had a chance to be the first team to do this in the fifty-year history of the NFL.

Remember, the Eagles were 4-12 with Foles playing below average football at quarterback before Kelly arrived. There were multiple unsuccessful teams from last year that would have loved to sign Kelly as their coach and give themselves that chance the Eagles had.

The Eagles not only threw out a chance of a title but their new situation is awful. There isn’t a single coach the Eagles could hire that can get them a division title in his first season the way Kelly did.

Of course there is the issue with the relationship between Kelly and the organization. Obviously there seemed to be some bad blood between Kelly and the players, so the Eagles should have been working towards reconnecting him with the players.

But the Eagles failed to do so, and even worse they fired him for his people skills. An opportunity wasted is now hidden gold for the 49ers. Watch out next year for a surprise turn around for San Francisco.