Voice of the 'Fan

On December 26, the Philadelphia Eagles were eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to Washington. Less than 72 hours later, owner Jeff Lurie dismissed head coach "Paint" Chip Kelly, even though the Eagles still have 1 game left, an opportunity to once again sweep the Giants.

Of course, the rumor mills are working overtime, claiming Kelly has his next job already lined up in Tennessee with the Titans, which means a reunion with Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, who, after looking like a superstar the first week of the season, finds himself injured and not in the playoff hunt. On the other hand, even though no one asked his opinion, ESPN's resident idiot savant, Stephen A. Smith, claims this all goes back to an off-field incident involving wide receiver Riley Cooper in 2013 at a Kenny Chesney concert. Excuse me, but if memory serves, that concert took place before the start of the season, before Kelly took the field for his first regular season game as coach! Leave it to that Cosell wannabe to open his yap and say something stupid.

The last two seasons have seen the dismantling of a playoff caliber team forged by Andy Reid, now in Kansas City and playoff-bound. Jeremy Maclin joined Reid in KC this year. LeSean McCoy was traded to Buffalo. In 2014, DeSean Jackson went to Washington. Now, he's going to the playoffs. There've been accusations, from Smith and other ill-informed souls, that Kelly may in fact be a racist. No, I don't think so. He wanted to remold the Eagles in the image of his teams at Oregon. Even though he had a QB in Michael Vick (now in Pittsburgh), and had skill players like Jackson, Maclin, & McCoy, that could play in his system, he got rid of them, largely in an effort to save Lurie money, I would think.

However, had Philadelphia won on Saturday night, we wouldn't be discussing Kelly, his flaws and flubs, would we? Of course not. Instead, we'd likely be reading about how Napoleon Snyder sacked another coach in Washington by dumping Jay Gruden. Smith is intentionally missing the bigger picture, as idiots like him tend to do. Kelly took on too much responsibility by becoming personnel director, if you will, this season, thinking he could wear the two hats effectively, and that backfired. He already said he doesn't want to do that again (Thank GOD!). Lesson learned.