Is Chip Kelly Far Enough Ahead Of The NFL To Win A Title?

There’s no question that Eagles head coach Chip Kelly is ahead of the NFL with his hurry-up offense.  His offense has been amongst the best in the league despite mediocre quarterback play, but can Kelly win a Super Bowl during this stretch of three or four years.

Since his arrival in the NFL, Kelly has added west coast offense concepts to his passing game thanks to offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and they have taken the Eagles offense to the next level.

Kelly’s understanding of spacing and his ability to force defenders into can’t win situations has put him in position to offensively dominate the league.  His offense has helped quarterback Nick Foles have a record-setting season with 27 touchdown passes and only 2 interceptions.  Quarterbacks Michael Vick and Mark Sanchez each had the best seasons of their career in Kelly’s hurry up scheme.

That brings us to Sam Bradford, who has a skill set that is better than any of the other fore-mentioned quarterbacks.  Can he elevate Kelly’s system and make it unstoppable to the point where he leads the Birds to a Super Bowl?  The rest of the league is watching eagerly.

Despite the success of the Eagles passing game, Kelly’s offense is really built around the running game. He’s made the read option and the zone option popular plays in the league and they helped LeSean McCoy lead the league in rushing.  Now you add DeMarco Murray, Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles to that backfield and it might be an assault on the record books.

Yes the record books will have to acknowledge Chip Kelly’s time in the NFL, but will it lead to a Super Bowl title.

Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry was ahead of the NFL for a good while and that’s why he led the Cowboys to 20-consecutive winning seasons, five Super Bowl appearances and two Super Bowl titles.  Landry designed the 4-3 defense and the flex defense.

He was one of the first to utilize a combination of the spread and the shot gun offense on third down.  Landry was also one of the first to change defensive personnel on third down with the nickel defense.

Despite all of those brilliant ideas, it was Hall of Famer Roger Staubach, who made Landry a champion.

I remember facing the west coast offense in college when USC played the Bill Walsh-coached Stanford Cardinals.  He brought his west coast offense or short passing game concepts to the NFL and it helped the 49ers win four Super Bowls under his leadership.

Walsh was brilliant, but how much would have done were it not for Hall of Famer Joe Montana.

I got an up-close look at the 46-defense when I played for the Eagles under Buddy Ryan.  For a few years, when Buddy was the Bears defensive coordinator, he was ahead of the NFL with his wisely-conceived attacking concept.  The blitz happy scheme utilized specific blitzes against specific offensive formations.  Ryan would study each formation and chart what each offense did out of them.  He would then design specific blitzes or defenses to stop the specific plays that the opposing team ran out of those defenses.

During that stretch when he was ahead of the NFL, the 1985 Bears defense almost single-handedly paved the way for Chicago to march to a Super Bowl title.

Ryan was defensive wizard, but were it not for Hall of Famers like Mike Singletary, Dan Hampton and Richard Dent, that defense would have had no title.

There have been other head coaches and coordinators, who have had a strategic advantages on the rest of the league for stretches, but you also need the players.  You must have the strategy and the players to get the job done.