Coaches with the most to prove: Chip Kelly

Chip Kelly is out of the frying pan and into the fire as the head coach of the 49ers after three turbulent years in Philadelphia.

There was a brief time when it wasn’t a certainty that Chip Kelly would land on his feet in the NFL after the Eagles abruptly fired him in late December, but the 49ers proved to be the perfect fit for a dominant personality calling the shots in the wake of a listless season under Jim Tomsula. Kelly inherits a thin roster in San Francisco, but that has never been enough of an excuse to temper the critics of his up-tempo offense—or to rein in the optimism among his passionate supporters. Kelly’s system needs to click into gear quickly to keep San Francisco from getting railroaded again by one of the league’s toughest divisions.