SANTA CLARA — Like a divorced couple forced into one last date, Chip Kelly and the 49ers endured an awkward dance Sunday.
The coach arrived for work knowing he’d likely be fired by day’s end. And he twisted in the wind until 6:26 p.m. when the official announcement arrived.
By then, Kelly had already traveled the high road.
“One thing we talk about here all the time is: ‘Don’t complain,”’ Kelly said after a 25-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks capped a 2-14 season. “We’re all privileged to play this game and to coach this game. So every time you get an opportunity to do it, go out and do it.”
This marked the third consecutive season in which the 49ers sent a lame duck coach out for the regular-season finale. Kelly, like Jim Harbaugh and Jim Tomsula before him, had to sit through a post-game press conference even as the hangman’s noose tightened around his neck. Kelly met with CEO Jed York only after talking to reporters.
Was it uncomfortable? Kelly shrugged and pointed to tackle Joe Staley (bad hamstring) and tight end Garrett Celek (high fever) who demanded to get on the field Sunday when they could have bowed out.
Kelly figured he could suck it up, too.
“I love these players, so I think if I was distracted by anything else, I wouldn’t be giving them what they deserve,” Kelly said. “They gave me everything everyday. And I have to give it back to them.”
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Kelly heard the rumblings on New Year’s Eve that Trent Baalke would be out as general manager and that he was on the chopping block, too. ESPN and NFL Media broke the news of the double-whammy dismissals.
And as the buzz grew Saturday night, York left the coach a voicemail message. Kelly called York back for what the NFL Network characterized as “not a warm and fuzzy conversation.”
Kelly disputed that account.
“Does NSA listen in on our phones? How does that come out?” he said after the game Sunday. “No, it wasn’t (contentious) at all. It was a nice conversation. We said we’d talk after the game.”
What was the tone of their chat?
“It was monotone,” Kelly cracked.
The coach tried in vain Sunday to direct the questioning back toward the action on the field. No such luck. One reporter asked Kelly felt as if he was nervous about being sent to principal’s office. (“I think it’s just an end-of-year meeting,” Kelly said.) Another asked Kelly if he was gearing up to make a case for himself. (“No, I don’t think I’m going to ‘The People’s Court.'”)
Kelly could afford to be glib. He has three years remaining on the four-year, $25 million deal he signed last January.
Including his stint with the Philadelphia Eagles, Kelly now stands at 28-35 as an NFL head coach. His teams have lost 23 of their past 31 games.
But Kelly won over some 49ers players by staying focused amid the dysfunction. To paraphrase his now ex-boss, this was getting fired with class.
Quarterback Colin Kaepernick said Sunday that the biggest lesson he learned from his coach this season was: “Don’t let your circumstances dictate your attitude.”
Staley said: “I learned how to stay together, really. … We could have really lost this football team and (Kelly) did a great job of keeping everyone focused throughout this kind of crappy season.”
Kelly jogged onto the field for pre-game warm-ups at 12:29 p.m. as if nothing was amiss. He chatted with a few Seahawks acquaintances, stretched out both quadriceps and clapped his hands enthusiastically as if to say, “Let’s go.”
Still, this was not a warm and fuzzy season. And it did nothing to erase the knocks on Kelly’s track record.
The 49ers surrendered a franchise-record 480 points, topping the 453 they allowed in 1999. On offense, they had more three-and-outs than any team except the Los Angeles Rams.
In all, the 49ers were outscored by 171 points this season.
As his firing loomed, Kelly could have blamed a talent-starved roster that also lost 18 players to the injured reserve list.
Instead, he pointed no fingers, even with one foot out the door.
“We don’t think, ‘Hey, I wish I had this, I wish I had that,”’ Kelly said. “We feel fortunate for the guys we have and we tried to coach them as hard as we could.”
