Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer believes it's too early to predict how former Eagles coach Chip Kelly will be remembered in Philadelphia.
"Right now, we're all looking through the wrong end of the binoculars. Putting Kelly's coaching reign into perspective is impossible because we don't know what happens next, either for the coach or the team. In 10 years, it's possible the hiring of Kelly will be cemented as the worst decision of Jeff Lurie's ownership. It's possible another school of thought will take root, that Kelly's vision was prematurely shuttered by impatience and a sinister palace coup led by Howie Roseman. Time changes things." Ford wrote.
"When Terry Francona was fired by the Phillies after the 2000 season, a miserable 65-97 campaign that brought to an end his four years of managerial losing, he was labeled a clubhouse softie who couldn't impart discipline. The team hired Larry Bowa to get a heavier hand in the manager's office, but the results didn't improve much.
"Baseball is far different from football. Managers have little or no say over the roster, and there isn't a brilliant system they can devise for playing the game. Baseball is baseball, and any manager who must slog through a season relying on Desi Relaford and Andy Ashby is not going to have much job security.
"In 2004, Francona, the utter failure in Philadelphia, got his next managing job and he promptly won the world championship with the Boston Red Sox, ending a drought that had extended for 86 years and 30 managers. Is that who Chip Kelly will become? Is he Terry Francona?
"Everything is time and place, and perhaps it will turn out that way. Kelly could have everything click in his next job. If you want to accept the most popular (and trite) scenario, he will be hired by the Tennessee Titans, be reunited with quarterback Marcus Mariota and they will win a Super Bowl together. And, oh, what a happy evening of television viewing that would be in Philadelphia."
Coughlin returns?
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan announced last week that Gus Bradley will be back as the team's coach for the 2016 season. However, Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel wonders if the Jaguars should bring back Tom Coughlin, who coached the team from its first season in 1995 to 2002.
"[Shad] Khan's announcement made no sense then and it certainly makes no sense now that Tom Coughlin was forced out as the head coach of the New York Giants on Black Monday in the NFL," Bianchi wrote.
"Khan needs to reverse field immediately, dump [Gus] Bradley and go about righting one of the great wrongs in Jaguars history by bringing back the iconic Coughlin as head coach.
"I'm not joking. The Jaguars are absolutely crazy if they don't take this opportunity to bring back the father of the franchise and a future Hall of Fame coach who won two Super Bowls in New York. Coughlin may be 69, but he still has the energy and fire and is 10 times the head coach of Gus Bradley.
"Former owner Wayne Weaver once said the biggest mistake he ever made was not having more patience and firing Coughlin, the coach who created the Jaguars from scratch and turned them into one of the most successful expansion franchises in NFL history. Coughlin took the Jaguars to the AFC championship games twice in his first five years on the job, but was fired after three consecutive losing seasons in 2002.
"If anyone can rebuild the perennially broken Jaguars it's Tom Coughlin -- the man who built them in the first place."
SPORTS QUIZ
Which team did the Jacksonville Jaguars beat in their first postseason game?
ANSWER
The Buffalo Bills in the 1996 AFC wild card round.
Sports on 01/05/2016