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5 Things Chip Kelly Needs To Do For Success In San Francisco

Chip Kelly needs to change the way he does things if he wants his tenure with San Francisco to have a better outcome than in Philadelphia.

Kelly was fired from the Eagles after a losing record in 2015 and a lot of drama surrounding the team.

The head coach has been accused of not getting along with his players or coaches, working the players too hard and having too big of an ego to listen to anyone else.

If Kelly wants success with the current San Francisco roster, he's going to have to change some of his coaching methods.

Here are five things he must change with the 49ers.

1. Develop a relationship with the players.

If a coach wants his team to play hard for him, he needs to develop a relationship which motivates the players to fight for the coach.

By all accounts, Kelly didn't do that in Philadelphia. He didn't spend time on relationships with his players.

Within the last few years, San Francisco's players have been in quite a few incidents off the field. The leadership among the players hasn't been there for the players.

Kelly will need to win over the locker room in order for the rest of his coaching methods to work.

2. Slow it down.

Those words have probably never run through Kelly's mind. His offensive strategy has always been fast, fast, fast.

The conditioning required to play inside of the fast offense is not something professional football players making millions of dollars are going to want to do.

Part of the problem in Philadelphia was that Kelly worked his players until exhaustion at practice. The practices would consist of a large portion of time focused on cardio.

If the team has to put in more work than they are used to just to keep up with Kelly's pace, there won't be too many happy players on the team.

That's not to say he still can't run the no-huddle offense. A lot of teams do it. Just slow down the pace a bit so the players don't feel over-worked.

3. Don't get caught up in resurrecting Colin Kaepernick's career.

It would be quite a story if Kelly can come into San Francisco and turn Kaepernick back into the quarterback who was just one play away from winning a Super Bowl.

Although that's a very attractive story-line, he can't get caught up in that hype.

All of the talk has been about what Kelly will do with Kaepernick, but the team has another quarterback who could be a better fit in the coach's system.

Former number one pick overall, Blaine Gabbert, showed signs of a good quarterback this past season. He has very good mobility and can throw with accuracy.

Kelly needs to give Gabbert a fair shot to win the role as starting quarterback.

4. Delegate to the coaching staff.

Kelly needs to understand that he can't do it all. There's a reason every team has the number of assistant coaches they do. Head coaches need to be able to rely on their coordinators.

Kelly had complete control of the offense in Philadelphia. He was also known to not incorporate the rest of his coaching staff when preparing for an opponent.

He needs to realize that even the best coaches in the NFL need help. Bill Belichick is known as a defensive guru, but he still relies on his defensive coordinator to call games.

If he wants to call the offensive plays, that's fine, but he needs to bring in an offensive coordinator he can rely on and go to for help in the game plan.

5. Don't lose the ego, but tone it down.

The last one incorporates all of the previously mentioned points. The thing that has made Kelly a good coach over the years has been the belief in his coaching methods.

The coaching style which got him fired in Philadelphia has also given him a lot of success throughout his career.

He doesn't need to completely change the way he does things, he just needs to tweak everything just a bit to have success in San Francisco.

Play at a quick pace, but at one that is comfortable for the players. Call the offensive plays, but receive help from assistant coaches. Be the tough coach the players need, but also develop a relationship that the players want.

Every coach needs to evolve through their career. If Kelly doesn't, he could have a repeat of the Philadelphia situation.

 

 

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